Home / Sales and procurement / The buying committee
Round 1: the first committee meeting
Twenty minutes, four seats. You sell a workflow platform to a company that has already seen two other vendors.
The situation
Your champion set up this meeting. Dana signs the check, Marcus will run the integration, and Priya has a template contract ready. Nobody has told you what the other vendors offered.
Your goal
Leave with an agreed next step and a named owner for each open question. Do not discount before you understand the real objection.
Meet the cast
All three are AI-simulated characters. Set how hard they push.
Tough. Questions overlap and patience is limited. You must prioritize and keep control of the agenda.
Wants: A clear total cost and a plan she can defend to her board.
At this level: Pushes for year-two cost and cuts you off when you hedge.
Wants: No surprises in the integration and a named support owner.
At this level: Asks who owns a failure at 2 a.m. and wants names.
Wants: Standard terms, comparable quotes and a clean paper trail.
At this level: Insists on the template and delays everything else.
What a good run looks like
- You ask what the committee has already seen before you present anything.
- You answer each person’s question in their terms: cost, risk, contract.
- You hold your price until the real objection is clear.
- You close with a named owner and a date for every open question.