Economic Buyer

The economic buyer is the person who signs off. Usually the CFO, director or business unit manager. This person focuses on one thing: does this deliver more than it costs? They don't want technical details or nice stories, but hard numbers. What does it cost? What does it deliver? When do we earn it back? The biggest mistake in B2B sales: talking to this person too late. You build a relationship with a manager for weeks, create a tight proposal, and in week 6 the CFO shows up who has other priorities. Deal blocked. The economic buyer doesn't want weekly updates. They want two moments: 1) Beginning – is this worth it? 2) End – which option do I choose? In between they delegate to their team. Your task: validate early whether this person has budget and what their criteria are. Ask: "Who ultimately decides on this budget?" If the answer is vague, you haven't found the economic buyer yet. Note the difference with decision maker. An IT manager can decide which system, but the CFO decides whether budget comes at all. Both are decision makers, but only the CFO is the economic buyer. Without economic buyer your deal is fiction. You can do months of work, but if the person with the budget isn't convinced, it won't happen.