The Role of the Economic Buyer in B2B Sales & Customer Development

Selling in mid- to large-sized businesses is never as straightforward as selling to small businesses. The MIT Entrepreneurship Center uses the term “Jury” to refer to the group of stakeholders that must get involved in B2B complex sales.

The Jury includes the decision makers, the influencers, and your early adopters.

This week, we look at the role of one of our key Jury members: the Economic Buyer — the person most concerned with the return on investment (ROI) of your product or solution.

Economic Buyer Definition: What is An Economic Buyer

The economic buyer — through a form of veto over purchases — acts as gatekeeper of the budget. He, or she, might be the CFO, the CEO or any kind of manager controlling a sizeable budget.

As generalists, economic buyers almost always know less than you do about many areas of the industry; they don’t have the time to keep up with all the developments in their business. The most valuable contribution you can bring to an economic buyer is knowledge.

“Bring your economic buying influence information that serves as Windex for their clouded crystal balls.” – Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman, Strategic Selling Authors

Economic buyers typically care about the long-term and risk-mitigation aspects of a deal. They want to know what happens if your company goes out of business, loses a key executive, or is acquired.

Start Mapping Buying Influencers – Get the Printable Jury Map for Free

The greater the dollar value of the deal, the higher up in the company economic buyers will be.


It’s important to note that, with the increase in influence of procurement in organizations, the role of the economic buyer is also changing.

Economic Buyer vs Technical Buyer vs User Buyer?

Curious how it all works together? Watch this short video:

More on Buying Influencers

• The Role of the Technical Buyer in B2B
• The User Buyer Role in B2B Customer Development
• How to Map Buying Influencers in B2B Customer Development