Familiar vs. Unfamiliar Purchases

Sales consultants often make the distinction between transactional and complex sales. Transactional sales – whatever their value – tend to have a relatively simple buying journey, are associated with lower decision risk, and involve fewer stakeholders. The decision is often regarded as tactical rather than strategic and the information required is often straightforward and based on specification, price and delivery and the decision-making process itself is typically linear.
Complex sales, on the other hand, tend to be subject to a complicated and often non-linear buying journey, tend to have a higher decision risk, and involve a larger decision team. The decision is often regarded as strategic, the information on which decisions are based is usually complicated and sometimes contradictory, and there is a very real possibility that the potential customer may – after devoting significant effort to the exercise – simply decide to stick with the status quo.
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