The concept of a buyer’s journey is not something new. It’s been extensively studied and written about.
As Hubspot quoted “The active research process a buyer goes through resulting in a purchase is referred to as the buyer’s journey.”
Buyers usually begin with a need and then make a purchase that meets or fulfills that need. If you haven’t already done so, you should be paying careful attention to anything that occurs prior to the purchase purpose.
The book Selling To The C-Suite by Nicholas Read and Stephen Bistritz is one of our favorite interpretations of this. The buyer’s journey is described in the book as an eight-step process that occurs in three stages (early, middle, and late). The Buyer’s Journey Has Three Stages
Let us discuss each stage and step, and the actions that go along with them.
A buyer’s journey begins with an awareness process, during which buyers seek education, advice, and perspective. Suppliers want to raise awareness and identify themselves as experts. Content should include objective and educational thought leadership articles to accomplish this, but no overt supplier branding should be present. At this point, the aim of supplier content is to begin building in.
A buyer’s journey begins when stakeholders become aware of and agree on problems that are negatively affecting the company or opportunities that will help it expand. Market factors or internal sources may also cause problems. Executives and department heads are often involved at this point. Stakeholders are likely to disagree on which opportunities or issues should be prioritized.
In this stage, suppliers should approach in the following ways:
Buyers are now ready to identify their goals and establish a timeline. Stakeholders are able to consider data that assists them in setting precise goals. This stage will be highly influenced by executives involved in the buying process. Stakeholders attempt to define what is feasible, but they may not be aware of what is feasible. As a result, the buying party will usually opt for a conservative option.
For this stage suppliers should
This is where buyers create an action plan to meet the goals they’ve set (who, what, where, when, why). During this stage of the buyer’s journey, success criteria are being defined. Individual stakeholders can have a vested interest in a particular strategy, which may lead to areas of disagreement within the buying community.
This middle stage of the buyer’s journey is when buyers attempt to solve a specific issue. Suppliers are attempting to expand their skills and incorporate new technologies. Case studies and comparative analysis can help to accomplish this. At this stage, the intent of the content is to continue educating buyers in ways that align with their needs.
Stakeholders are given the task of conducting research on products and services to present to buyers. If the “set strategy” step focuses on what buyers will do, this step focuses on how they will do it.
Buyers will devise methods for monitoring progress and will begin to plan a budget. Executives and department heads will begin delegating action items, resulting in an increase in the number of stakeholders.
Buyers begin to assess what features their preferred product/services must haves. At this point, only buyers start compiling a list of potential suppliers they want to work with. The requirements of the products/services required will be determined by those stakeholders who are closest to the challenge or opportunity. Individual stakeholders with preferred suppliers can try to influence the requirements to fit their preferences.
The buying phase of the buyer’s journey occurs when the buyer is ready to make a decision. The goal of suppliers is to convert leads into customers. To accomplish so, extensively branded content forms such as product/service descriptions and application notes might be used. In this stage, the purpose of content is to persuade the buyer that your products/services avail their needs.
This is frequently the stage at which buyers request proposals from vendors. Suppliers who have already contributed useful content will have a better chance of being evaluated.
Because they have already put in so much effort leading up to this point, it is tough to persuade purchasers to slow down and examine alternate possibilities. Suppliers who haven’t made an effort to stand out
Suppliers who have not yet differentiated themselves risk being rated exclusively on the basis of pricing.
Buyers are now prepared to make a purchase and launch the product or service. Stakeholders that choose one of the options want the negotiation, purchase, payment, and implementation to go well and positively reflect on them. Stakeholders that did not get their preferred option may try to sabotage the process. Executives will be involved once more in order to reach a final decision.
Now the customer wants to know if the purchase is assisting in the resolution of the problem that started their purchasing journey. The success criteria from the “Strategize” step are used to calculate ROI. Executives are heavily involved in calculating ROI, which is generally done through reports from department heads and other stakeholders in the buying group.
The most effective method for suppliers to acquire more business is to follow consumers throughout their purchasing process, delivering useful content at each stage and step. The greatest B2B marketers not only try to keep buyers informed throughout their journey, but they also figure out how to give value through content.