Losing a new business that seemed to have been taken for granted is always a source of enormous frustration and demotivation for an organisation. However, the main reason is often the same: not being able to identify all the people involved in the decision-making process.
According to a Gatner study, an average of 6 to 10 people are involved in the B2B purchasing decision process. If you have identified fewer than 6, it is probably because there are not enough.
All companies have a decision process for the allocation of new business, whether or not it is formalised. If the interlocutor is known (most often the buyer) the decision is most often taken in the most consensual way possible, taking into account different perspectives: strategy, finance, operations, legal…
If you have not understood this process and have not been able to identify all the decision-makers and influencers, then the chances of history repeating itself and the same question being asked again are high.
