Understand Your Buyer's Pathway

I really wonder how many marketers and other business people really understand the entire chain of decisions potential buyers make, leading up to the point of their final decision to do business. Every sale is different, but usually this chain begins with a problem. Either the potential buyer knows about this problem or needs to be educated about the problem and its consequences. In all likelihood, few of your competitors have entered the chain at this point, so if you are able to provide some diagnostic tools, such as a simple checklist, or a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), you could turn all of them into also rans right from the start. When a potential buyer becomes aware of a problem, he seeks out information. He may ask his doctor, his lawyer, his cousin Ernie or go to the web. If you have not only posted a lot (let me repeat, a LOT) of free information on your site, but you have also provided lots of free content on the subject to other sites, with links back to your site, this buyer will find you. This person is not yet looking for a sales pitch. He needs information. Information he can understand and use. Think of this person at this stage as an information sponge. At the same time, think of yourself as a solution provider. Your job at this point is not to sell, but to show the way to a solution. Behind the scenes, the buyer is also looking for credibility. And by showing the way to a solution rather than go-for-the-throat-selling, establishes credibility far beyond anything else you can do. Sit down today and map out your buyer's pathway, from problem to you. Note every decision, every question, every want and every doubt the buyer might have before he finds himself at your door. You can remove a lot of the stumbling blocks along the buyer's way when you know the path he will be taking. COPYRIGHT