Economic buyer

A deal can look healthy in every meeting and still die at sign-off, because nobody in those meetings could approve it. The economic buyer judges the purchase differently from a user. They care about return, risk and how the spend compares with other uses of the same money, not about features. Warmth with an enthusiastic user does not replace reaching the person who decides.

• Ask early and plainly: "Who signs off on spend like this?"
• Ask how a similar purchase was approved last time, which usually names the real decision path.
• Find out what the economic buyer measures success by. It is rarely the same list as the user's.
• Give the champion a short case in the economic buyer's terms, covering cost, risk and payback, so it can be passed on even if you never meet them.
• Treat a deal with no named economic buyer as unqualified, however friendly it feels.

Several people sit around a typical business purchase. Users work with the product. An evaluator checks it does the job. A champion wants it and argues for it internally. The economic buyer is the one who controls the money and can sign. In a small company that is often the owner or managing director. In a larger one it may be a finance director or the head of a department with its own budget. Job title is a hint, not proof. Authority is about who can release this particular amount.

• Assuming the first contact can sign.
• Going around a champion and damaging the relationship.
• Meeting the decision maker only in the final week.