I’ve been lucky enough to develop relationships with prospects where they allow me to read my competitor proposals after the prospect becomes my customer. I’m always surprised at how many proposals are generic documents which never really address the customer needs. Basically, the first page and the last page are written for the prospect and everything in the middle is boilerplate. I have always prided myself on understanding my prospect’s needs and through the years I’ve been able to find proper vocabulary to describe the way I try to sell. Understanding the Buyer’s Journey reprioritizes the sales process for higher quality, higher value customers.
Most companies sales systems are designed around their own internal needs, typically reporting needs. Its simple, it makes sense and its the way sales people stay employed. But an internally based sales system has nothing to do with the potential customer. And rarely does it do a proper job of evaluating good prospects, prospects who will make good customers, from bad. That last sentence is about quality over quantity. From a macro-corporate prospective, good prospects that turn into good customers allow a company to grow with the least amount to stress. I’ve had many arguments about good income vs. bad income, not all money being the same shade of green, etc. In other words, a mature company will understand what it does best and its position in the market place. Understanding the Buyer’s Journey is a method of attracting and closing customers that fit your company’s personality. In the world of Inbound Sales, implementing a Buyer’s Journey sales process is your opportunity to create online dating profile.
The Buyer’s Journey is based on a three-phase frame work; Awareness, Consideration and Decision. These buying phases can be matched to different levels of your sales funnel and in that sense, the Buyer’s Journey is the mirror of a Sales Lifecycle. The basis of the three-phase framework is to understand and outline what are your prospect’s goals and challenges.
The Awareness Stage is when a buyer identifies a challenge they have or an opportunity they want. Typical buyers are trying to understand the scope of their needs. They are trying to educate themselves and evaluate the consequences of action vs. inaction. The prospect has not committed to anything and the last thing they want is to be ‘sold’.
The Consideration Stage occurs when a buyer has developed and defined their goal or challenge and have committed to addressing it. This is the stage when typical buyer’s evaluate one course of action over another. This is also the stage when buyer’s have the most misconceptions about how to address their need. What a buyer wants during this phase is a good consultant that can help match internal expectations with external realities.
The Decision Stage occurs when a buyer has decided on a specific solution category which, hopefully, fits their need. Evaluation criteria and solution providers are being reviewed and the decision team prepares to make a purchase. This stage ends with with a proposal and/or presentation by your company and a signed contract.
The best sales people understand how to position themselves as the obvious or only option for a buyer. The best sales people consistently build relationships and trust with their prospects. The best sales people wake up in the morning excited about the day ahead. Understanding and incorporating the Buyer’s Journey into your company’s sales system is a method of scaling the best practices of your best sales people to the rest of your organization.
Written by Scott Madlener
Chicago - New York - Zurich