Being the Texan that I am and knowing how I love to grill, BBQ, and smoke meat, this thought popped into my head: When you’re shopping around and searching for solutions to optimize your business, increase sales, and drive profitability do you want the pork belly or the whole hog?
Ok, so we’re not actually talking about buying smoked meat. Sorry. Really, we’re talking about whether you, a business decision-maker looking for a software solution, should start out by purchasing just a portion of that solution or go ahead and purchase the complete package.
So what drives the decision to purchase just a pork belly or move ahead with buying the whole hog? Over the course of my career in sales, I’ve come to identify a list of decision-making criteria that a buyer should carefully review prior to making a selection. As a buyer, you know you want something, the question is how much?
Here’s what to review and consider as you make your buying decision:
Critical Business Issue (CBI)
Critical business issues are the most important items of a company’s goals and are directly connected to its success. CBIs can be used to measure resources like people, time, and money. In evaluating CBIs as you consider your purchase options, you can determine your Return on Investment (ROI). When evaluating the ROI of a purchase, you’ll need to determine funds available, identify any resource allocation or reallocation, outline the timing of the return, and note any increased opportunities and revenue.
Budget
This one is pretty straightforward when talking about a purchase. Money: Is your budget pre-approved or is it business-case driven?
Is the Business Growing?
This one is important to factor into the decision-making process. The incremental growth of a business can have an impact on the product decision. Are you looking to solve the immediate need or the “what if” needs? Does your budget allow for a slightly larger purchase now, with the plan to grow into a solution (and thus increase the ROI)?
Is the CBI Impeding the Growth?
Are your critical business issues prohibiting you from growing as a company? This is one of the most critical decision-making factors and will really determine which product is ultimately needed.
So now you’ve reviewed your CBIs, your budget constraints, and your path for business growth. What next? As a member of the MasterStream sales team, it’s really our job at this point to take this information and work with you to pinpoint the best course of action for your business. It’s not our goal to get you into any solution, it’s our goal to get you into a solution that best fits your needs – whether that’s just a slice of bacon or the whole enchilada. I mean whole hog.
I’m fortunate to work for a company that has expert products and services that improve business performance in the lead-to-order process for both the Agent/Channel community and the Service Provider community. We are experts in our field and part of our process is reserved to walking through these decision-making steps:
- Each of our customized solutions can solve the specific CBIs you’ve identified.
- During the sales process, MasterStream will help you determine the ROI.
- MasterStream products allow you to grow into a complete solution.
There are two things I’m really good at (in my humble opinion) – Texas BBQ and developing customized lead-to-order software solutions. When you come to us looking to purchase software that will help you optimize your business and drive sales, we’ll walk you through each step of this decision-making process to determine which direction is best for you and your business. Together we’ll answer the question: Are we starting with the pork belly or jumping in to the whole hog?
