While most companies have a Sales process, a Sales Department, a Sales manager, sales teams- rarely do we look at the process from the customers perspective.
In a previous post, We initiated a review the buyers process, by starting with an in-depth understanding the motivations, behaviours and needs of buyers. From this i described how we were able to create an effective buyer strategy to boost sales with both an individual buyer and amongst a segment of buyers.
In this next section, we’ll introduce the concept of a Buyer Journey- from ignorance about your products to implementing your solution. The key points are firstly to understand that there is a buying process and that effective sellers match their selling process with the customers buying process.
The buying process can and should be mapped for each major customer in your critical customer accounts- and in a subsequent more detailed post I’ll equip you with the detailed questions to ask to assess where a buyer is. But first lets add a last question to the buyer persona page outlined earlier
- Questions they ask themselves during their “buyer’s journey”. Look at your business from the buyers perspective, are they new to you or a repeat buyer, where are they in the buyers journey.
Whats YOUR buyer journey?
One exercise that can help you understand the concept of the buying process is by looking at this process from a personal level. If you were to recall your last major purchase (home, car, refinancing a mortgage) at some point you went from being disinterested, or ‘not in the market’, to ‘stimulated’ then to interested, and then ultimately you ‘made the purchase’.
Lets take your car purchase.
Yesterday you were happy taking the bus… but today you’ve got a promotion and your company is offering you a car allowance!
You progress from a vague disinterest in cars, to being stimulated- the TRIGGER was the offer of a car allowence enabling you to make a purchase. But what car to buy? You talk with friends, read up on the internet, dream, of that sports car. You then visit three car yards to test drive various models in your scope. You select a great dealer who seems interested and offers good customer service and ask about what he can offer you. You sign the deal and drive your 2011 SLK home… journey complete.
Customers Buyer Journey
It really helps to think about your new and existing customers in the same buying process way.
Below is a list of the 8 stages every buyer will likely travel through. Have you considered where each of your current and potential customers stand?
- Not in the Market (disinterested, don’t recognise a problem, don’t see a need)- I take the bus.
- Stimulated (have discovered a problem, or uncovered an unmet need, there has been a Trigger) – a car allowance needs a car
- Problem Definition (working on defining what their real problem is) – what sort of make and model, whats the budget?
- Options (seeking different ways to deal with their defined problem, looking for alternatives) – Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes?
- Evaluation (which is the better option, seek facts, figures, ROIs) – What extras does a Toyota Camry have, what colours? Actually the SLK has good resale value.
- Preferred Recommendation (an alternative is chosen) – How many years can I pay the car over, and can I get some freebies?
- Final Approval – (paper work completed) the Bank approves the loan
- Implementation – (joint implementation completed) i drive my new red SLK home.
Assessing where a Buyer is, in their journey
So how do you find out where a buyer is in his journey. Well you could ask, but you may not get a great answer. And so we have a post coming up on how to develop insights into where your buyer is on their journey.
While all buyers go through this process before buying, some buyers do so in a very formal way (especially if their DISC preference is a C) and others can skip quickly from one stage to another (in particular high D). A purchase could be done with just an individual and so there is no need to manage others, or the buyer is purchasing on behalf of a company and so you need to assist the buyer convince others. We’ll cover how to manage this in our next post.
Step 1. How buyers move from disinterested to stimulated
And how do you know when your buyer moves from one stage to the next I’ve already given you the answer to the first transition- the Trigger- moving from disinterested to stimulated needs a trigger. When you have a customer who’s not interested in the solutions you have to offer you need to identify a trigger to stimulate their interest. Typically in my previous job, when we were dealing with Pubs and Bars who were contracted with a competitive organisation, the trigger would be that the contract was coming up for renewal, or poor customer service could trigger a reaction, or credit problems. Where customers are not currently buying from you look to identify the triggers that could prompt a reappraisal and get you and the customer on a buying journey together.
Have you some insights into your buyer journeys, please share with us.