- Abhishek Pattanaik
- 1268
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The customer is the most important stakeholder in the entire sales cycle. So, understanding the buyer’s journey in detail is critical for any serious salesman. A potential customer goes through various phases before eventually making a purchasing decision.
It is important to note that it is NOT THE SAME AS THE SALES FUNNEL! A buyer’s journey begins long before the sales funnel.
Also Read: Sales Funnels and How You Can Leverage Them
Discover the different phases of a buyer’s journey and how lead generation strategies are impacted.
By understanding the entire journey, salesmen and sales firms can personalize and develop better lead generation tactics.
Phases in the Buyer’s Journey
It is divided into 3 stages. Each stage gives clear insights into the perspective of the consumer. Developing a thorough understanding is necessary to meet the prospects’ needs. The stages are:
Phase 1: Creating Awareness of a Product/Solution
At the first stage of their journey, buyers realize there is a problem or a particular need they have to address. However, they are unaware of the potential solutions for their problems that exist in the market.
Tactics for Better Lead Generation
Marketing your content to generate awareness and educating your clients (not selling to them) is the ideal strategy. This can be through a website, infographics, videos (highly popular), and other forms of content sharing mechanisms.
Social media is a popular and unmissable platform to market a product. All content shared should be relevant and should focus on explaining how the product or service resolves an issue.
Phase 2: Buyer’s Consideration
The second stage is when prospective clients are aware of their issues and are actively looking at and researching various resolutions. Different solutions and their providers are in consideration, and buyers are looking to see who is the best fit.
Tactics for Better Lead Generation
A buyer is already aware of your (and your competitor’s) product at a surface level. Now, it is time to go deeper and deliver to them a more in-depth understanding of what your solution has to offer.
Demonstrations, webinars, email campaigns, and other methods that help guide the prospect should be used. The key is to differentiate your strategy from competitors so that, among a sea of products, yours sticks out.
Phase 3: Final Decision in the Buyer’s Journey
At the third and final stage, buyers wish to make a purchasing decision. They are conducting their final evaluations between different options.
Tactics for Better Lead Generation
Allow the customer to gain first-hand experience of the product. This could be through free trials (for mainly FMCGs). Make sure that your method of reaching the consumer ends with a strong CTA (call-to-action).
