Handling the Technical Buyer Block

by Graham Denton

In the Miller Heiman book The New Strategic Selling, a Technical Buyer is a person whose influence on a sale relates to one or more areas of technical expertise. Technology would be one example, but only one: Other "technical" areas might include finance, purchasing, delivery, pricing, or legal issues. The approval of experts in any of these areas -- and many more -- might be needed before you can close a Complex Sale.

Unfortunately, to many salespeople, Technical Buyers seem wary of, and sometimes even hostile to, the whole selling profession. The impression isn't entirely misplaced because the function of Technical Buyers is to screen out. "It's the Technical Buyer's task to limit the field of sellers and to come up with the short list. They don't decide who wins, but they do decide who can play."

To make matters worse, these professional gatekeepers -- in doing their jobs -- often try to convince you that they are much more than screeners. In fact, the Technical Buyer's favorite game is to try to convince salespeople that he or she has final authority over the sale. Sometimes they even believe this themselves, but whether or not they believe it, it's in their nature as screeners to make it difficult for you to see the person who really does have final authority -- the person that Miller Heiman calls the Economic Buyer.

While it's tempting to try to do an end run around these screeners, that can alienate them and prove troublesome for you down the line. Therefore, Miller Heiman recommends that, when you're being blocked by a Technical Buyer from seeing the Economic Buyer, you try to show the Technical Buyer how he or she can win, not just by getting out of your way, but by bringing you to the Economic Buyer.

The best way of handling a blocking Buying Influence is to show that you have something the Economic Buyer needs -- and that the blocker can get the credit and recognition for delivering it. If you can show a blocking Buyer that you have something of value to bring to the Economic Buying Influence, you will very likely be able to convert a "lose" perception into a "win" perception, because there will be a realization that cooperating with you will enhance the blocking Buyer's own perceived value. Your goal here is to help him see that he can make an impression by being seen as the person who was smart enough to bring you on board.

Tony Parinello, president of the sales training company Parinello Incorporated, recommends a similar strategy in dealing with "Seymours," which is his company's equivalent of Technical Buyers. And he suggests a novel and elegant way of going about it: having your sales manager write a letter to the executive that advertises Seymour's good thinking -- and then showing it to Seymour before it's sent, to get his approval.

For example, suppose you've been meeting with a Seymour for the past several months. The prospects for doing business with his company look good to you, but Seymour himself (or herself) is a major impediment: You're unable to break through his block to the real decision authority. In this situation, Parinello writes in his book Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Officers), you should have your manager write a letter with this kind of headline statement: "Seymour Jones and my team have completed an in-depth study. The results show that your corporate personnel costs can be reduced by 36 percent -- over $18,500 returned to your bottom line annually." Then take that letter to Seymour before it goes out.

If he loves the letter, or wants to modify it, you've made real progress -- you've converted a blocking Technical Buyer into an ally. If he hates it, you're no worse off than you were before, and you still may be able to use the threat of your manager's outranking you to get the letter on the top executive's desk -- which is where you wanted it anyway. In either case, you'll have repositioned yourself with Seymour on a much clearer level -- one where you've got a shot at the top without simply "going around" him.