There are many steps involved in buying enterprise software and a new LMS can gain a lot of internal interest given the impact they have on everyone’s training and development. With more eyeballs comes more scrutiny, and more questions from within.  
 
There are three common ways an LMS purchase can be made: committee, consensus or independent. Each has its own nuances, though there are a number of recurring questions you’ll hear asked in each scenario. Having thorough and well-researched answers for these questions will help ease buyer group concerns.  
 
The Committee Scenario 
Purchase or procurement committees are groups established to review and evaluate recommendations for purchase, typically large contracts. It is the most complex scenario and comes with the most questions. 
 
The committee will consider previous initiatives and software purchases, business drivers and goals, and budget constraints. It can take weeks if not months to gain approval from a committee.  
 
Some common questions that might be thrown your way include:   

• Do you have a business case carefully thought out and documented? LMS software is often bought as part of a digital transformation strategy. As such, you’ll need to create a strong business case that outlines selection criteria, cost, schedule, business benefits, risk assessment and strategic business alignment. A business case goes a long way to proving the strategic value created by the solution you choose.
• What are the associated business risks with moving forward? Identifying the potential challenges is time and money well spent in software procurement. It’ll pay to not only define these business risks, but to showcase the plans you have to mitigate them if they do arise.
• If we are changing providers, what are the transition and change management plans that have been put in place? Create a change management plan before you meet with your buyer group. It’s best done after a needs analysis. A comprehensive plan should include defined goals, a team outline, scope documentation and how change will be reinforced.
• Is there a detailed overview of privacy, data and security protocols? Outline the security standards that are currently utilised in your organisation including functional requirements, high-risk functionality and testing environments. Anticipate any follow-up questions the committee may have around ambiguity, consistency and protocols.

The Consensus Scenario 
Building consensus is most difficult in the early stages of buying. When it comes to making a B2B purchase for an LMS, the consensus scenario sees an array of people involved from multiple business departments, all of whom need to agree.  
 
Building consensus is about finding a solution that everyone can support by getting them all behind a common thread. Think about it less as trying to win people over and more like a collaborative problem-solving exercise. 
 
There are two key questions your stakeholders may ask: 

• How will this software help us manage our business drivers? Defining a problem stakeholders face (shared or otherwise) will go a long way toward proving the merit of a solution. Not every department will see they have common issues. It’s up to you to find that shared pain point.
• What processes will the software support and which will we have to displace existing software for it? Integrations between workplace software are ever more popular and easily accessed these days. The power of integrating and automating time tracking, scheduling and messaging benefits users, administrators and managers alike.

The Independent Scenario 
Under this scenario, questions come from your immediate team members. A purchase decision is made within a single department.  
 
While we’ve already covered some common questions above, here are some that may come from specific roles in your team.  

• Users: Is this easier to use than our current platform or platforms? At the crux of it, your users want something that’s easy to use and easy to navigate. We’re in an era where end users have a lot of say in software decisions through the user experience. Get a thorough understanding via surveys and seek out a chief representative who can relay where the team stands.
• Influencers: How does this help me and my teammates do our jobs? Likely tech personnel or mid-level managers, influencers need to advocate the solution to their team. They need to directly address how the solution will address pain points and improve their day-to-day.
• Buyers: How can I make this buying process as easy as possible? B2B software purchases are complex, and the buyer is on the hook for any stuff ups – likely because they are responsible for budget and resource allocation. Alleviate their concerns by breaking down the buying process into three key steps: define project roles, build out a timeline and prepare documentation.

For a more in-depth look at LMS buyer group questions, have a read of the full article.