It’s official. Mainstream sales is finally acknowledging that the problem is on the buy side rather than the sell side as everyone has believed.

Forbes recently published an article by Pat Spenner of CEB  http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickspenner/2013/10/21/youre-doing-it-wrong-demand-generation/ saying that a focus merely on needs and solutions ignores the buy-in and consensus management issues necessary before a purchase – which, he concludes, happens in a dysfunctional way. If you’ve been following my work, you know that what goes on inside a buying decision is systemic and unique to the buyer’s system of people, policies, initiatives, and relationships is a change management problem. Certainly not the area we focus on in sales or marketing, as I discuss in the article I wrote to counter Spenner’s argument. http://sharondrewmorgen.com/get-it-right-shift-focus-to-the-buy-side/ Take a look.

Of course, Buying Facilitation® was developed specifically to give sellers and marketers an additional tool kit to help sellers help buyers navigate through their buying decision and buy-in issues. It’s quite possible to enter the buy path during many of the 13 steps buyers go through pre-purchase, but not with current sales or marketing practices. If you want more articles on the subject, go to www.sharondrewmorgen.com