Know the Buyer.
Win the Deal.

Know the Buyer.
Win the Deal.

Every buyer has a different agenda – price, compliance, efficiency, or long-term growth. Knowing what motivates each buyer is the key to moving beyond price wars.


What your sales people will learn from this page:


  • How to engage the 4 core buyer types

  • How to avoid the wrong buyers that drain margins

  • How to tailor messaging to each buyer’s priorities

  • The key to moving from vendor to trusted advisor

Every buyer has a different agenda – price, compliance, efficiency, or long-term growth. Knowing what motivates each buyer is the key to moving beyond price wars.


What your sales people will learn from this page:


  • How to engage the 4 core buyer types

  • How to avoid the wrong buyers that drain margins

  • How to tailor messaging to each buyer’s priorities

  • The key to moving from vendor to trusted advisor

Increasing margins for

Why you should avoid selling to price buyers

Why you should avoid selling to price buyers

  • Transactional, short-term thinkers not interested in building a relationship

  • Negotiate aggressively and undermine your value

  • Jump ship the moment a cheaper option appears

  • Difficult to grow or expand the account over time


Common Roles that exhibit price buyer behavior:

Procurement, Finance, Supply Chain


💡 Solution: Identify price buyers early—and navigate toward roles who care about outcomes, not just cost.

Technical Buyer

Technical Buyer

They are highly analytical, detail-driven, and laser-focused on whether your solution meets strict specifications and standards. They prioritize accuracy, compliance, and performance.


They’re not swayed by hype—they want facts, metrics, and proof.


  • Expect longer sales cycles and in-depth evaluations

  • Be prepared for detailed questions

  • Build trust with clear documentation and technical proof

  • Understand what KPIs they’re accountable for

Operational Buyer

Operational Buyer

They are focused on execution, efficiency, and output. Their #1 concern is: "Will this solution keep us moving forward—faster, better, and more reliably?”

They prioritize streamlined processes, productivity gains, and on-time delivery.


  • Be prepared to show proof statements, efficiency metrics, and documented results

  • Emphasize ease of integration, reliability, and after-sale service

  • Speak their language: time savings, workflow impact, and execution reliability

  • They want a partner who understands their operational pressures—and can help remove friction from the system

Value Buyers

Value Buyers

They see suppliers not as vendors—but as strategic allies. They care about the big picture: profitability, long-term growth, and how your solution supports their business objectives.

They evaluate solutions through the lens of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI)—not just price.

  • Value buyers look for trusted business partners, not product-pitchers

  • Expect open, frequent communication—especially if you bring new ideas that drive business results

  • Speak in terms of financial impact, risk reduction, and long-term value

  • Be ready to justify your solution with quantifiable data, TCO framing, and a clear ROI story

How to move from Vendor to Trusted Advisor

How to move from Vendor to Trusted Advisor

Move beyond transactions – Vendor-level relationships are limited and transactional. To grow, sales teams must bring problem-solving insights, ROI-driven innovation, and financial impact to the table.

Make This Your
Sales Cheat Sheet

Make This Your
Sales Cheat Sheet

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Bonus access to 2 advanced playbooks
✅ One‑click PDF to easily share with your team
✅ Keep it handy for your next deals. Use it anytime, anywhere

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