Stop Treating Buying Committees Like Personas
A workflow for mapping how decisions stall, move, or die inside real B2B accounts
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Workflow Name: Buying Committee Decision Mapping Workflow
Created by prompts.tinytechguides.com
What This Workflow Does
This workflow maps how B2B buying decisions actually get made inside target accounts.
It identifies:
Who is involved in the decision
Who has power vs influence
Where decisions stall or die
What alignment must exist for a “yes”
This workflow does not create content or personas.
It creates decision mechanics.
It answers one question:
“What has to be true inside the buying committee for a decision to happen?”
Workflow Steps Summary
Step 0: Define Inputs
Step 1: Identify Buying Committee Roles
Step 2: Map Decision Power & Influence
Step 3: Define Role-Level Success Criteria
Step 4: Identify Decision Friction & Stall Points
Step 5: Produce the Decision Map
The workflow was created by prompts.tinytechguides.com (https://prompts.tinytechguides.com) and builds on these existing workflows:
- Prompt Workflow: Voice of Customer
- Prompt Workflow: Competitive Landscape Mapping
- Strategic Battlecard Workflow
- Monthly Market Signal Synthesis Workflow
Step 0: Define inputs
Before running the workflow, gather these inputs:
- {account_type} = target account profile or segment
- {deal_examples} = recent won, lost, and stalled deals
- {sales_inputs} = call notes, objections, deal commentary
- {customer_inputs} = outputs from Voice of Customer workflow
- {competitive_context} = outputs from Competitive Landscape Mapping
- {business_context} = company priorities for this segment
Step 1: Identify buying committee roles
B2B purchases are rarely made by a single decision-maker. Multiple roles participate, each entering the process at different stages with different incentives. This prompt surfaces who is actually in the room.
**Prompt:**
# Role
You are a B2B strategist analyzing how buying decisions actually happen inside real accounts.
# Context
B2B purchases are rarely made by a single decision-maker. Multiple roles participate, each entering the process at different stages with different incentives.
# Task
Using {deal_examples}, {sales_inputs}, and {customer_inputs}, identify all roles typically involved in buying decisions for {account_type}.
# Format
For each role:
- Role name (functional, not persona-based)
- Core responsibility in the organization
- Typical involvement stage (early / mid / late)
# Tone
Grounded, factual, and based on observed deal behavior.
Step 2: Map decision power and influence
Some roles formally approve decisions, others influence outcomes informally, and some can block progress without ever owning the final call. Understanding these dynamics is where most persona work falls short.
**Prompt:**
# Role
You are diagnosing power dynamics inside buying committees.
# Context
Some roles formally approve decisions, others influence outcomes, and some can block progress without owning the final call.
# Task
For each buying committee role, assess decision authority, influence, and blocking power.
# Format
For each role:
- Decision power (High / Medium / Low)
- Influence level (High / Medium / Low)
- Ability to block the decision (Yes / No)
- Notes on how this role typically exercises power
# Tone
Analytical, unsentimental, and realistic.
Step 3: Define role-level success criteria
Buying committee members optimize for different outcomes and are accountable for different risks. These differences are the root of most internal conflict, and most stalled deals.
**Prompt:**
# Role
You are uncovering how each role defines a successful outcome.
# Context
Buying committee members optimize for different outcomes and are accountable for different risks. These differences often drive internal conflict.
# Task
Define what success and failure look like for each role in the context of this decision.
# Format
For each role:
- Primary objective
- Key risks or fears
- What failure would look like to them
- Conditions under which they feel safe supporting the decision
# Tone
Empathetic but pragmatic.
Step 4: Identify decision friction and stall points
Most stalled deals fail because of unresolved internal tensions rather than product deficiencies. This step makes those tensions visible before they kill the deal.
**Prompt:**
