Buying B2B Technology & Services - TRT

At TRT we have structured the way our clients and prospective clients go about making efficient and effective in B2B purchases for both IT technology and services. The process is quiet logical and TRT sales process aligns with this well.

1.  Establishing Rapport
2. Generating Interest
3. Assessing Needs
4. Presenting Solution(s)
5. Handling Objections
6. Buying Decision / Closing for Business

These stages vary in length of time and cater for informal decisions as well as more formalized “RFI/RFP” buying decisions. While there are these stages and they are listed sequentially it is important to note that there is no set sequence in that once you go past one stage the prospective client/buyer is not allowed to come back to a previously covered stage. At times in a same meeting 2, 3 or more stages of the buying process can be covered by the prospective and it is the ability of the TRT Business Development Manager to position the TRT offering and qualify the prospective clients requirement that will determine a successful outcome. The only pre-condition to a purchase that is Stage #6 – buying decision – closing for business to occur, then in the buyers mind every other stage must have been covered to their satisfaction.   

 What makes TRT’s process different is its ability to allow for: 

1. Higher rates of winning business “of course” – overall the process make the BDM more effective across the whole buying process of the prospective client.
2. Accurate qualifying of opportunities identified – spending time on the opportunities that the prospective clients are capable and willing to make a decision for TRT.
3. Weeding out those sales people who are not being effective with too large an unqualified pipeline which is not closing business within a defined time frame.

Overall it delivers for TRT and its prospective buyers a process which to lends to being with the right people on the right opportunities at the right time for most of the time.

The way the TRT business development align with our prospective clients buying process is by taking techniques for both “transaction” based selling and from more “consultative” selling techniques and placing them into different parts of the prospective clients buying process. Overemphasis by a Business Development Manager (BDM) on the "transactional" approach focuses too much on the “here and now” which means losses of long term trust and finding of other opportunities with a prospective clients. While the later "consultative" approach fails to qualify opportunities in terms of simple pre conditions for B2B purchases in particular budget and timeframe but also qualifying the decision making process. The TRT approach to new business development and qualification is all applying correct technique in the correct situation. When these transactional and consultative selling techniques are utilised by the BDM at different stages of the above buying/sales process, they work to the benefit of the prospective client, TRT and the business development professional at TRT.

 The coming weeks there will be material covering in detail the different stages.