Hit or Miss?
Imagine walking into a bookshop with a simple request: “I’m looking for a gift for my five-year-old niece. Could you help me find a book she’ll like?”
“Sure!” the salesperson replies, “We have a great assortment of gifts for everyone, and our best seller is this new tablet. Would you be interested in buying a tablet today? All the reviews say it makes a great gift!”
How did this salesperson make you feel as a customer? Probably confused and reluctant to return to that bookshop, for starters.
To be successful, salespeople need to empathise with their prospective customers. That’s where the concept of the buyer’s journey originates. A buyer’s journey describes a customer’s experience as they move through a sales process. By aligning how we sell with this journey, we can improve our ability to connect with customers.
In this lesson, you’ll learn about the steps of the buyer’s journey and how you can respond to contacts at every step. You’ll also discover strategies for aligning with the buyer’s journey to serve customers better.
Watch this video to learn more about the buyer’s journey and how salespeople can use it to serve prospective customers better.
What Is the Buyer’s Journey?
The buyer’s journey describes what potential customers experience as they make a purchase. You’ve probably gone on this journey yourself—maybe even today. Every time you purchase an app, buy a new vacuum or even stop by a café, you’re moving through the buyer’s journey.
Put another way, the journey is a series of choices a potential buyer must make before purchasing your solution. This framework can help salespeople understand sales from the customer’s perspective.
3 Stages of the Buyer’s Journey
There are three key steps in the buyer’s journey: awareness, consideration, and decision. Although organisations may sometimes add or split stages depending on their customers and products, these three steps are fundamental:
- Awareness. In the awareness stage, the person recognizes they have a need that must be filled: “Oh no! My car broke down, and I don’t have a ride to work this week.”
- Consideration. In the consideration stage, the person explores different solutions: “I could bike to work, rent a car, or ask to carpool with a coworker.”
- Decision. In the decision stage, the person has chosen a solution and must now decide between options: “I’ve decided to rent a car. Should I rent from Max’s Rentals or Sasha’s Car Company?”
When salespeople understand the buyer’s journey, they can meet the customer at every phase.
Why the Buyer’s Journey Matters in Sales
Isn’t this a job for marketing? Or customer service?
Attracting and maintaining the attention of prospective customers might seem outside the realm of sales. But in reality, buyers don’t think in terms of “acquisition,” “prospecting,” or “closing.” They are seeking a solution to a problem. Relating to potential buyers involves all teams, including sales.
Ultimately, understanding the motivation of potential customers can help salespeople position themselves as helpers rather than sellers. And the focus can be on relationship-building. When you meet people where they are, you prove yourself to be trustworthy and genuine.
By aligning sales with the buyer’s journey, you’ll be better aware of how customers come to your business. That increases your chances of making a successful sale.
Aligning With Every Stage
Knowing where a prospective customer is along the buyer’s journey will shape how you approach them. That can help you move them forward to the next stage.
Explore the timeline below to see what happens at every stage.
Tips and Tricks
When you view yourself as a problem-solver rather than a salesperson, you lay a solid foundation for positive relationships with your prospective buyers. Aligning sales with the buyer’s journey is an effective way to build trust and respect with your contacts.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you align sales with the buyer’s journey:
Know Your Customers
Knowing the buyer’s journey starts with knowing your customers. Research your potential buyers to learn more about their specific journeys. How are they finding your business? What problems are they facing as a company? What issues are currently disrupting their industry? What solutions are they trying? Have they done business with your organisation before?
There are many ways to research your customers. Company blogs, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets are a great place to start.
Remember that each contact is unique. Some may start at the awareness stage, while others may come to you already at the consideration stage, or even ready to make a decision. Ask questions, be curious, and listen carefully.
Work With Marketing
The buyer’s journey reveals how sales and marketing must work together. Though they have different functions, each team has the same goal: to find and serve people looking for solutions.
Marketing attracts buyers and can create content that keeps them interested in a product. Sales works with individual contacts and can provide helpful feedback to marketing. These responsibilities aren’t separate. The teams can cooperate in providing the best possible service and solutions for potential customers, sharing information and establishing processes that prioritise the potential buyer’s needs.
Plan Content for Every Stage
Work with marketing to develop content that responds to buyers at every stage of their journey. This customised content keeps them engaged and helps them move from stage to stage.
Take advantage of the many channels available for sharing content. Email, social media, and video are just three ways to communicate with potential customers. By being mindful and creative with the content you produce, you can help prospective buyers feel educated and supported at every step of their journey.
"Stop selling. Start helping."
– Zig Ziglar
Summary
Understanding the buyer’s journey, or the steps a buyer experiences when they purchase a product, is essential for salespeople. This framework can help salespeople empathise with potential customers as they move toward a purchase. The three stages of the journey are:
Awareness, or when the contact is aware they have a problem that needs solving.
Consideration, or when the prospective customer starts thinking about different solutions they could pursue.
Decision, or when the potential buyer has chosen a specific type of solution and is exploring options within those parameters.
Knowing your customers well, working with marketing, and planning content for every stage are some tips that can help you align sales with the buyer’s journey. Doing so will position you well to build constructive business relationships with your customers.
- As you guide a contact through the buyer’s journey, you might occasionally determine that the best solution isn’t yours. That’s fine! You still have the opportunity to build a positive relationship. If done well, the customer might come back to you when they realise your solution is the right fit for them.
In the next lesson, you’ll discover some useful tools that can boost your productivity as a salesperson.
Click on “Mark Complete ✓” to continue.