What is Buying Committee?
The group of people within a company who are involved in making a B2B purchase decision.
Definition
The buying committee (sometimes called the decision-making unit or DMU) includes everyone who influences a purchase. Gartner research puts the average B2B buying group at 6-10 people. Each member plays a role: economic buyer (controls budget), technical evaluator (assesses fit), champion (advocates internally), influencer (shapes opinion), end user (will use the product daily), and blocker (raises objections or compliance concerns). The committee grows with deal size. A $10K tool might have 2-3 people involved. A $500K platform deal can involve 15+.
Why It Matters
Sales teams that sell to one person lose to competitors that sell to the committee. Multi-threading across the buying group isn't just a nice-to-have. Research from Gong shows that deals involving 3+ contacts on the buyer side close at 2x the rate of single-threaded deals. RevOps teams build processes and plays that systematically identify and engage each committee member throughout the sales cycle.
Example
An SDR books a meeting with a Director of Marketing. During discovery, they learn the VP of Marketing, CMO, IT Director, and Procurement all need to approve vendors over $50K. The rep builds a champion strategy with the Director, creates a custom business case for the CMO, schedules a technical review with IT, and prepares procurement paperwork in advance. The deal closes in 45 days instead of the 90-day average.