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If you’re alone and want a sandwich or coffee, the decision is fairly easy. But, unfortunately, most purchases involve many people, especially if it’s a product or service for a business.

Even something that at first sight appears to be simple can involve more than one person. Imagine a mother in the shopping mall with her two children. One of them says, “I want a sweet.” That child is known as the initiator and is also the consumer. The mother is the buyer. The other child has a vested interest in the decision because they know that they’ll get a sweet too. That child is a stakeholder. If the purchase is not a sweet but something more expensive, the other parent may be involved in the decision process also. We give the people these names to help explain their role in the decision process of making a purchase.

 Initiator. The person who first suggests the idea. In the example above, this is one of the children. If the mother had made the suggestion by asking, “Would you like a sweet?”, she’d be in initiator instead.

 Consumer. The person who actually uses the product or service. This is the child in the example above. But, if you wanted to buy a computer network for a business, it might be a whole team of people.

“Most sales are lost because the salesman presented his product before he knew what motivated everyone else involved”

Gary Bencivenga, American celebrity copywriter

 Influencer. A person or group of people whose views and advice have a bearing on the buying decision. In the example of buying sweets, this could be a dentist who might suggest that sweets are bad for the teeth.

 Money man/woman. The person who has the money or signs the cheque. They have the ultimate authority to say, “No, we can’t afford it”.

 Buyer. The person who actually buys or pays for the product or service. In business these are the people who check the contract and look at the viability of the supplier in the long term.

 Stakeholder. A person or group of people who have no influence over the decision, but are interested in the purchase.

The more expensive the product, the more people you’ll tend to find involved in the decision. You must identify the individuals by name and work with your salespeople to make sure that you influence them correctly. It’s the little things that matter, so you must give the right kind of information to the right person. For example, the buyer is not interested in the technical merit of your product, they are interested in the status of your company. The money man is really only interested in making sure that they get value for money.

Purchases are never as simple as they seem, and there can be many people involved in even an easy decision.