We almost missed our big break with a hospital chain because we didn't know who the real buyer was.

We spent 6 months pitching our patient intake software to the IT department at a hospital in Chicago, but the deal kept stalling. On a hunch, I asked to meet the head nurse in the ER, and she told us their real pain point was data entry time, not security. We changed our demo to show a 70% time cut on forms, and they signed a $120k contract two weeks later. How do you guys figure out who actually has the budget and the problem in a big company?

3 comments

3 Comments

umaf442mo ago

Man, that's such a classic story. It reminds me of when we were selling to schools and kept talking to the district office. Turns out the real budget holder was the PTA president at one specific elementary school, because they ran the fundraiser for tech stuff. You have to basically ignore the org chart and find the person whose daily life is miserable because of the problem you solve. I started just asking "who complains about this the most" in early calls.

tara7001mo ago

I get what you're saying but I actually think chasing the "who complains the most" can backfire. Those people are often too busy putting out fires to have the authority or budget to actually buy anything. The PTA president might have access to the money but at the end of the day the district office is still the one signing off on the big purchases, not a volunteer running a bake sale. Isn't it better to find the person who has both the pain and the power to write the check?

sarahh482mo ago

Totally get that. My buddy sold software to hospitals and wasted months on admin. The actual buyer was a head nurse who had to deal with the old broken system every single day.

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