The 99% Problem: Sara Simmonds on Why Buyers Reject Most Pitches

In a recent LinkedIn post, Sara Simmonds discusses a critical, often-overlooked aspect of sales and business development: understanding the buyer’s perspective. Drawing on her extensive experience as a buyer who managed over $100 million in purchasing decisions, Simmonds reveals why the vast majority of innovative founders and their products fail to gain traction.

Simmonds highlights the stark reality of the approval process, stating:

I approved less than 1% of everything I saw.

This statistic underscores the intense scrutiny and high bar set by procurement professionals. Simmonds argues that the reasons for rejection rarely stem from product quality or the founder’s dedication. Instead, she points to a fundamental misunderstanding of the buyer’s internal decision-making system.

The Buyer’s Hidden System

According to Simmonds, every buyer operates with a defined system, a mental framework that dictates which proposals gain attention and which are dismissed. Founders who fail to align with this system, regardless of their product’s merit, become invisible.

“The founders who didn’t understand this system were invisible to me,” Simmonds writes. “Didn’t matter how good the product was. Didn’t matter how hard they worked.”

This invisible system, she explains, is not about arbitrary decisions but about a specific set of criteria that buyers are implicitly looking for. The challenge for many entrepreneurs is that they are unaware of these criteria, operating from their own internal logic rather than the buyer’s.

Beyond Product and Effort

Simmonds emphasizes that the common pitfalls for the rejected 99% are not related to the core product or the sheer effort invested. The critical missing element is the ability to articulate a compelling reason for being the *only* choice.

“What the 99% got wrong was not the product. It was never the product,” Simmonds asserts. “It was not being able to show me why they were the only choice. That is the difference between overlooked and chosen.”

This insight is central to her philosophy and the foundation of her venture, Impact Innovator. She posits that this crucial communication gap is entirely learnable, offering a path for overlooked businesses to become chosen.

Learning the Buyer’s Psychology

Simmonds’s post serves as a call to action for founders to shift their focus from merely presenting a good product to demonstrating its unique value proposition from the buyer’s vantage point. She believes that by understanding and adopting the buyer’s perspective, entrepreneurs can significantly increase their chances of success.

“And it’s 100% learnable,” she concludes, referring to the ability to effectively communicate why a business is the only choice. Simmonds invites interested individuals to her Buyer Psychology Masterclass, suggesting that mastering this perspective is key to navigating the complex world of procurement and business acquisition.