Do You Really Understand How Your Customers Buy?
Talk to any salesperson and they will tell you how well they know their customers. Ask them how well they know their customers’ buying processes and you get a very different story. According to a recent CSOinsights 2012 Sales Performance Optimization survey, only 11% of sales people have a really good understanding of their customers’ buying process. Can you really say you understand your customers if you don’t understand the process they go through to make their buying decision?
38% Improvement By Understanding How Your Customers Buy
According to the CSOinsights study, a sales organization that moves from “needs improvement” to “exceeds expectations” in understanding their customer’s buying process would see its win rate increase from 42% to 58%. That means by just taking the time to understand how your customers buy - instead of why they buy - you could see sales go up by 38%.
Buying by Committee is the Norm
In good economic times, understanding your customer’s buying process is actually easier than in tough times. That’s because during good times, there are less people involved in the buying process. Most of the time there are at least three people involved in the final buying decision. In uncertain economic times, as we are in just now, the number can increase drastically. As the number of stakeholders increases, the number of agendas increases as well. This makes understanding what needs to be accomplished to get the vote from each decision maker - not to mention those who influence their vote - difficult.
The Internet Has Changed Everything
The internet has changed how most customer buy. Time once spent with salespeople is now spent reviewing online resources. For this reason, it’s imperative that you be found in the places where your prospects are looking. Now more than ever, your company needs to be recognized as the source of relevant knowledge that pulls prospects into your sales pipeline.
Content in Context is King
However, it takes more than just being recognized as the thought leader - you need to develop content that maps to how your customers buy. Prospects search for different information at each stage of their buying process. By understanding their buying process, you can then define their interest and needs at each stage. In addition, you can create calls to action for the content for subsequent stages in their buying process; in essence, you move your customer through their buying process faster.
The Bottom Line
Understanding your customers’ buying process is probably the best thing you can do to improve your sales performance. The sales cycle is there for one reason – to support the buying cycle. The better these two processes are aligned, the higher the odds that a deal will result. But studies show that sales teams are finding it harder to know what needs to be accomplished to get to “yes.” That is because their customers have changed the way they buy so much that sales is not involved in their customers buying process until the very end. This is why marketing needs to step up and understand how their customers buy and develop content that maps to it. As a result, instead of your company having to chase prospects, they come to you when they need you.
Want to learn more about how to build a lead generation engine that is built around how your customers buy? Check out this free guide.
The Executives' Guide to Building a Lead Generation Engine
Looking for ways for marketing to show ROI? This guide will help you build a lead generation engine that maps to your customers buying process and delivers maximum measurable ROI. Download our free The Executives' Guide to Building a Lead Generation Engine.