She was confused about the company’s response to the proposal.

My friend was familiar with the company and had earlier provided smaller work packages for it.

The buyer expressed strong interest at the start. But they could not yet commit to a date. It was now slipping over three months.

When selling to a company, there are a lot of moving influences to track.

Miller Herman’s explains buyer influences through these terms:

• UBI: User Buyer Influence

• TBI: Technical Buyer Influence

• EBI: Economic Buyer Influence

• Coach

The important roles are Coach and EBI.

The coach unlocks the mystery of the buyer’s decision making.

The EBI is different in every company. Not necessarily the most senior person.

They pull the economic strings.

EBI’s can be hidden. Some people think they are EBI’s but they are only UBI’s or TBI’s.

Now getting back to my friend. She was confused about the mixed signals.

But she discovered one valuable perspective. When a buyer says yes to a small business, they should be ready to make a deposit. It should be in the non-trivial range of 50%.

It shows the small business operator they are committed.

You can then schedule your delivery plans.

Without a deposit opportunity is flapping in the breeze.

Another way of putting it: no money… no honey.