What makes a sale complex?

Video transcription: What makes a complex sale. A lot of people look at the signals and signs that point to how many people (are involved in the sale)? How many meetings? How far are you willing to travel to have them? How much paperwork is involved in the sign off? Believing that those are the things that make it complex. But that's us thinking about our side of it as a seller, not from the customer's perspective.

What makes it complex for them is the consideration 'how much is riding on this?'. How much trouble are they going to get in if they get this wrong? And the essence of that is really how big a commitment are you asking them to make. If I'm getting one bottle of water from a vending machine because I'm thirsty right now, I don't even have to talk to a person or consider whether I want the one on the left or the one on the right do I? It's just one thing. There's no level of commitment. I'm done. I've got it. It's mine.

But suppose I'm choosing who supplies the water regularly to a great big office full of people. Then maybe I've got concerns around it arriving on time,  Is it low distraction when it does? Do we order the right amount of volume for the month? Are there extra charges in the summer when we have to go through more? Do they supply those little tiny cone cups? No though is entirely impractical to have on a table anyway? Are there any environmental implications around the waste of what's coming? Did they pick up the rubbish that's generated by the bottles as they as they drop off the new lot?

Let's suppose now we're running a big event and everyone's coming over from our international offices and maybe some of our key stakeholders are coming down. Well then all of a sudden, I start to care about what impression this gives other people. Some maybe even start to care, not just about whether there's some still and sparkling water, but what kind of branding is on there and the way that reflects on us.

So the more that's riding on it, for me the more complex it is and that's why I'm going to want to get other people involved in my decision. That's why I'm going to want to see more evidence from you that you can really do what you say you can do. That's why I'm going to make sure that I'm doing the right thing to fulfill our needs and to do it in a way that fulfills our budget. So the more complex it is for the customer, is based on the commitment you're asking them to make. How long have they got to commit to this and what's the risk of getting it wrong? So as that risk goes up for them, so should the planning that you do and the level of strategy that you apply to it and the depth of the questions that you prepare to ask.