What you'll learn
By the end of this lesson you can map the buying committee in a Tier 1 account, decide who to approach first and tell when the map is complete enough to work from.
Why one contact is not an account
Lesson 3 gave Tier 1 one rule beyond the score: at least three roles you can name. This lesson is how you name them.
Most accounts start with one contact: someone who replied, met you at an event or downloaded something. That person can be useful. They are rarely the whole decision. If they move on, go quiet or say no, an account with one contact is back to zero. A map spreads the risk and shows you where the next conversation should be.
Four seats in every decision
Titles change from company to company. The seats do not. Start with four.
| Seat | Who it usually is | What they need from you | How to spot them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic buyer | The person who owns the budget or the outcome | Why this matters to a goal they have already stated | Named in the annual report, results or a leadership announcement |
| Technical buyer | The person who checks it works with what they run | Proof it fits, and who maintains it | IT, security or engineering leads; job ads for their team |
| User | The person whose team lives with the result | Whether their week gets easier or harder | Operations or function heads; the people the problem lands on |
| Coach | Someone inside who helps you understand how they buy | A reason to spend their time on you | Only known by what they do: an introduction, an internal detail |
One person can hold two seats, especially in a smaller company. The buying committee map breaks these into nine roles, including finance, procurement and the blocker. Use the four seats to start and the nine roles for Tier 1 accounts once the first conversations are open.
Find the people from the outside in
Work from public sources before you ask anyone: the annual report and results, the leadership page, recent announcements, job ads (they show who leads which team) and public profiles. Then check your own records for past contacts in the account.
Write a source and a date next to every name. A name with no source is a guess. A name from last year's report may belong to someone who has left.
Who to approach first
Not always the most senior person. Start with the person for whom you have the most specific reason to talk now.
- The seat the trigger touches. If the trigger is a new site, start with the user or technical buyer who will have to make it work.
- A likely coach. Someone who has engaged with you before, or who is new in post and still mapping the company.
- The economic buyer, with something to show. Approach them with what you learned from the first two, in their terms.
Two exceptions. If the economic buyer stated the trigger in public, start with them. If you have a warm path to anyone on the map, start there.
When is a map a map?
You do not need nine names before you start. A map is enough to work from when:
- every one of the four seats has a name or is marked "unknown"
- at least three people are named, from at least two functions
- every name has a source and a date
- one person is marked as the next to approach, with a reason
Below that, it is a contact record with ideas. Keep researching before outreach to the account starts.
What "unknown" means
"Unknown" is an honest entry, but it can mean three different things. Record which.
- Not looked for yet. Research to do. Give it an owner and a date.
- Looked for and not found. Ask a contact in the account, or watch for job ads and announcements.
- Does not exist here. In a smaller company one person may hold two seats. Write that down so nobody keeps searching.
The coach seat stays "unknown" until someone acts for you. A polite reply is not yet a coach.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Quaywise put Northfield Logistics in Tier 1 in lesson 3 because of its second site. Sam Carter maps it:
| Seat | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Economic buyer | Dana Whitfield, VP Supply Chain | Annual report |
| Technical buyer | Marcus Lee, Head of IT Applications | Leadership page and a job ad |
| User | Regional Warehouse Manager | Not looked for yet |
| Coach | Unknown | Nobody has acted for us |
Only two people are named, so the map is not yet enough. Sam finds the warehouse manager for the new site in a local news item, which makes three. Marcus becomes first to approach, because his team's job ad shows they are choosing how the new site's systems connect. Dana comes third, with what Marcus and the warehouse manager say.
What comes next
A map shows who you need. The next lesson covers reporting on accounts with the five KPIs, including how many accounts have an active buying committee.
Key takeaways
- Fill four seats per account: economic buyer, technical buyer, user and coach, each with a source and a date.
- Approach first the person for whom you have the most specific reason now, not always the most senior.
- A map needs a name or "unknown" in every seat, three named people from two functions and one next person.
Exercise (40 minutes)
- Take one Tier 1 account from lesson 3 and write the four seats. (5 minutes)
- Fill each seat from public sources, with a source and a date. (20 minutes)
- Mark every gap as not looked for, not found or does not exist. (5 minutes)
- Choose who to approach first and write the reason in one line. (10 minutes)
Why this works on named accounts
Put it into practice
Buying Committee Mapper
Map the people behind a decision by role, stance and influence, and see who to approach next. Runs in your browser.
Buying Committee Map
For sellers working a large account through a single contact.
You leave with nine roles to look for, a map you can paste into a spreadsheet, a brief for each person and a coverage check that shows where the account is exposed.
When One Door Doesn't Open: Finding the Next Stakeholder
For sellers stuck on one silent contact in an account worth winning.
You leave with five other doors into the same company, a line for each and a rule for doing it without going behind anyone's back.