What Are Key Events in Buying Processes?

 

They can make all the difference!

 

We were selling automated workflows into pharma and materials science research organizations that included hardware, software, intellectual property rights, and knowhow. These were expensive systems that could accelerate processes 50–100 fold, delivering enormous productivity gains and truly accelerating the identification and optimization of candidate compounds and materials.

 

Everybody was interested, but it came clear that only those who visited our facilities and saw the workflows in production use moved forward to purchase. It was an unanticipated, but important element of proof. The “Lab Tour” accordingly became a Key Event in our prospects’ buying processes.

 

No Lab Tour, no purchase.

 

Completed Lab Tour, high probability of closed business.

 

We changed our sales motions to match these buying steps, encouraging (and gently demanding!) a Lab Tour as a key step in our sales and our prospects’ buying processes.

 

It is important to realize that the Lab Tour was not part of our original sales process. We only discovered its cruciality when we were reviewing our recent wins and No Decision outcomes (at that time the only viable competitor was No Decision or an attempt by prospects to build the workflows themselves). 

 

Key Events in your prospects’ buying journeys could be the critical difference between closed business and no sale!

 

In our case, it was an alternative form of proof from what we expected. Since then, I’ve encountered other intriguing types of Key Events that occurred in discovery and other phases of sales and buying processes.

 

What might be Key Events in your buyers’ processes?