The decision to purchase will often be influenced by the personal gains of the individual buyers. Understanding the benefits for the buyers will help you to determine how to sell to each decision maker.

In this example, Cheryl will benefit in several areas, including:

• Personal recognition
• Increased authority
• Greater skills
• Growth potential

You can tailor your strategy to assure that she recognizes these benefits and help turn her into an advocate for the sale.

In order to evaluate the sales potential, you will need to identify the buyers and the role they will play in the sale, whether they are the:

• Final Authority
• User
• Gatekeeper
• Mentor

Each role has unique criteria to evaluate the buyer's perception of the sale. Here, you could appeal to Mr. Adams desire to eliminate the problem and his sense of urgency to act immediately. Because he is uninvolved with the technology, you can be sure he will rely on the Gatekeeper for technical advice.

Understanding the intricacies of each buyer will help you to tailor the sale to the buyer's needs.