By John Capuano, Co-Founder of Simplicity Lone Beacon
What’s a “Buddy Buy” you ask? It’s when you’re purchasing a product or service based on a personal relationship rather than a true value proposition.
If your vendor’s plan is to invest in your personal relationship over investing in improving their own offerings that could help you, you might be in a “Buddy Buy” situation.
Yeah I get it, it’s nice to feel loved, but the buyer almost always loses in these transactions. Stunningly, the Buddy Buy strategy is very effective, but everyone should know that they’re extremely one-sided business models.
Would you pick a doctor or a lawyer or a CPA based on a personal relationship?
If you were to total the cost of your vendor’s expenses on fueling your personal relationship, do you think you might be better off had they invested that money in more technology, or training, or marketing?
Do you find it frustrating when you’re talking to a prospect and THEY are the ones in a “Buddy Buy” relationship? The bond is a tight one… and takes courage and common sense to break free from.
In the end, the sellers in the “Buddy Buy” scenarios do their best to insulate themselves and their buyers from the rest of the world.
We work in the financial services industry, and to every financial advisor, hear this:
Don’t sacrifice YOUR VALUE of helping the “unwitting prospect”.
This prospect is mistaken about the real value they’re getting from your competitor who has them under the spell of a “personal relationship”. You’d be doing them a favor to explain what substance and value added means and encourage them to evaluate what value they’re really getting from them.
About the Author: John grew up in Schenectady, NY & received a scholarship to Norwich Academy. He began his broadcast management career at WOR, learning spoken word marketing from the best in the business with a specialty in financial and long form. John managed broadcast sales for some of the best known sports teams in the world, at the most legendary stations. However his true passion is in the world of direct response advertising to baby boomers and their parents. In this space he has worked with some of the best brands in America. John lives in Boston with his wife, Melissa who is also a broadcast executive, and French Bulldogs Lou and Sal.
