I could not agree more with the writer.
Having been on both sides of the fence, I remain sceptical when I see an army invading my office, parading like ducks in a row, all carrying a briefcase.
Briefcases down (normally only one to be opened during the session), some six business cards on your table, discussions with usually one, sometimes two members of the team. The rest is backup.
Then all rise, pick up case and out they go.
My solution? Restrict the team to two for any salespitch, delegate to working groups if the matter is technically complicated. Insist on outlining a buying process upfront, agree to and submit meeting goals and reports as well as a target deadline for the Y/N decision. Avoid lunches (by organising snacks)or start after lunch.
In short, create a “buying project”, run it as a project and apply all the rules of project management. You might be surprised about the cooperation from nost serious vendors.
Ben Laauwen, South Africa