Know how your buyer buys so you can sell better

Do you know how your target customer buys?

If you know the process that they follow, then it makes it so much easier to create a sales and marketing campaign that hits the spot at each stage

I created the simple model illustrated in the diagram below to show how the buyer buys in 7 easy steps

1. Identify a problem or needThis will depend on your products or service. For example if you are selling into retail, there may be regular annual range review or they may take products on an ad hoc basis. They might be monitor trends or might have seen some of your marketing and realise they have a gap in their rangeAt this stage, you need to be out there building awareness, creating the need or offering the solution to the problem your potential customer might never even realised they had. This is the stage at which you "warm up" your leads so that when you contact the buyer to start selling, they are already aware of you and ready to engageBut you need to find out what the process is so that you can build awareness in the right way
2. ResearchIf you buy a car, you will do your research. You might buy a couple of car magazines to find out what is in the market place. You will probably go online and read reviews. Or ask your friends and family what they drive or even borrow one for a test drive. You might visit a garage and take it for a spinThis research stage is critical and procurement managers do this tooSo map out how you think the buyer will be finding out about your offer and where they might do their research - it will differ depending on the sector you are in
3. ShortlistThere are always choices and alternatives. Occasionally I meet someone who says "there is nothing like it on the market".....but there always is, even if you have a patent or intellectual property to solve a problem.The buyer is going to create a shortlist of people they want to contact or work with. You might be lucky as one of my clients has been and the buyer proactively seeks you out but this does not happen very often. So you have to be there in their inbox when they are making the shortlist which, unless you are psychic, takes some doing!And you also have to have tailored your Unique value proposition so that it fits exactly what they are looking for at that specific time. ...which means again back to totally understanding your customer, their needs and how you can solve their problems
4. NegotiateGetting to Yes! is of course the hardest for both the buyer and the seller and many books have been written on this subject. But if you have got to this stage, the buyer will be serious about buying and you have to use everything in your arsenal to make sure the offer is just too good to refuse. And remember it is not always financial, you have to reduce their risk of saying yes to you
5. Buy

The buyer is now ready to commit and sign on the dotted line! They have done their research, made a shortlist and negotiated the best deal. At this stage, you are ready to deliver the goods! And that is the crux of selling more and selling better. Execute well and you will have ongoing business, execute poorly and they will head off back around the circuit to find your replacement which leads us to stage 6

1. ReviewMost retail buyers say they can tell if a product is going to be successful within the first two weeks, often less. So make sure, whether you are selling food or delivering a massive project, that the first impressions are professional and reinforce the buyer's belief that they made the right choice. We have all bought something, got home and wondered if we should have got the other one! Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance. To overcome this execute well and tell them!
2. Repeat My focus with clients is to sell more and sell better. And the heart of selling more is to have repeat business. It is way more expensive and hard work to recruit new customers, so make sure you optimise the ones you have.But that is the same for the buyer as well. Ideally they don't want to have to go through the cycle of finding someone else and if you do a good job, you are protecting yourself against challengersAnd if relevant, make sure they refer and recommend you to other people so that you create a virtuous circle of new warm leads. People love recommending things/experiences that they have enjoyed and commercial buyers are no differentIf you found this introduction interesting, then head over to Amazon and get a copy of my book Buyer-ology? - know your buyer, sell more and sell better which goes into these stages in a lot more detail plus loads more useful hints and tipsOr book a consultation with me and we can work out YOUR customer buying process and how you can tap into it