The Buying Cycle
The answers to why people don’t buy now and how to have them buy from you in the future.
Isn’t it odd that when you present your offer to someone and they say no?
Well, not really. Assuming the whole Know, Like, and Trust thing is taken care of, then chances are it’s because they’re not in the buying part of the cycle just yet.
“But my offer is outstanding, they are my target market, everyone should say yes, it’s that good” I hear you say. Well, no.
As an example, let’s say you sell websites, if the prospect just got a shiny new website, then chances are slim that they will want to buy a replacement one the following day. At some point after that, maybe 2 or even 5 years later, they are going to think about a new website. Their current one is no longer up to date, it looks dated, or the business has changed direction.
Whatever the reason, unless you happen to by chance get in touch and pitch your website offering in the small window of opportunity, then it’s likely to go to the person that does.
Unless …
Unless of course you’re aware of the buying cycle and have kept yourself top of the prospects mind. By keeping you top of mind over the months or years leading up to when the prospect thinks it’s time to update the website, then you’re the one they are going to want involved.
What most sales reps usually do however is say, “oh you don’t want to buy, good bye then.” And that’s it; they don’t bother to do anything after that. The alternative is to keep in touch with the prospect, so when they do want to say yes, it’s you they come to.
So how do you keep the awareness of you over this time while you’re waiting for them to buy?
Here’s what to do to keep you top of mind:
- Add Value
- Educate
- Do it regularly
- Automate it
- Personalise it
Add value by giving freely of your ideas and suggestions and this doesn’t have to be solely related to your product or service.
Educate your prospects; help them understand the benefit of your product or service and the return on investment for them. Do with testimonials and other proof from customers.
Do it regularly, after 90 days your prospect has forgotten about you, probably sooner. Regularly get in touch to educate and add value.
Automate it; use email auto-responders to send out scheduled emails. Couple this with using your CRM or reminders in Outlook to follow up using other means such as by phone or direct mail.
Personalise it. Email auto-responders can merge data into the email, typically the prospects first name, don’t overdo it however. The emails or other “templated” materials you send out should be read by the prospect thinking you wrote this to them and only to them.
Last words. You have prospects that aren’t in buying mode just yet; however, will be at some point in the future. Rather than forget all about the prospect, nurture them until they are ready to buy. So keep them warm and to keep you on top of their mind, regularly add value and educate them, personalise the communication, and automate as much of it as possible. Automating it means it does actually get done, it’s repeatable, and other people can do some of it for you, so it frees up your time.
Selling by Email – Sales Dream or Nightmare
Done right, sending out a special offer to you previous customers is an excellent way of generating instant cash flow.
Let me give you an example I have just experienced.
One of my suppliers (in other words I’m their customer) emailed me with a special offer I couldn’t refuse.
It’s been 18 months since I last purchased from them, and normally I’d need to make a purchase from them at least annually. Purchasing from them has been on my to do list, however, at a low priority.
So I was in ready to buy mode, and all I really needed was something to get me to take action.
The email they sent contained an irresistible offer. The offer included more product than I’d previously got and at a lower price than the previous time I’d purchased, plus a 15% discount on top of that.
And here’s where the trouble started and it all went pear shaped.
First off they made me jump through hoops on their website. Yes it was clever how their website processed my order, very cool looking etc. Trouble is, for me, one of the steps didn’t work and I was unable to get to the next step of the process.
Then began my hunt for a phone number, eventually I found an 0800 number answered by an offshore call centre. Let’s just say they were less than helpful. I asked for the local office number, while they put me on hold to look for it, I found it on a local business directory, just as well, because they didn’t have it.
Like I said, the offer was irresistible, so I phoned the local office. I spoke with the person whose name was on the email, they said they would help. I emailed them the issue I’d had so they could get a support person to help me.
Meanwhile I find another way of getting around the issues of their website ordering process.
Looking good, I’m about to complete the order, and more confusion sets in.
The email mentions a 15% discount, and the order page requires a promo code to get said discount. I don’t have this code yet.
You see, there are two links in the email. One to go buy the product, which I had clicked on. And another to register your interest in purchasing and request the promo code.
This promo code would arrive next week, and be valid for 10 days starting the week after that. Confusing, yes.
So I’m hot to buy right now. Instead they want me to request a promo code that I’ll get in a weeks’ time, that I can use the week after that. You can just hear the response rate taking a massive dive.
It all started of with an irresistible offer that got me to take action and want to buy right now.
This could have been a huge money earner for them. However, with this amount of confusion, sales will likely be minimal. They made it too hard to buy. This type of customer experience does a lot more harm than good, and the unfortunate thing is that it happens day in day out at businesses all over town.
What not to do:
- Include a lame offer like 5% off
- Confuse with multiple actions
- Make it hard to buy, if someone wants to buy now, let them, don’t make them wait (and lose interest)
- Make it hard to get help
What to do:
- Include a single irresistible offer in your email to get people to take action, great for reactivating people that haven’t purchased in a while and have forgotten about you
- Make the action you want the reader to take obvious
- Minimise the number of clicks they have to do to make a purchase
- Add value and bonuses that have high perceived value to the customer, yet cost you little, such as extended warranties or gifts from complementary companies
- Provide a phone number answered by a real person (not a machine) in case people have problems buying
- Detail what the customer can expect after completing the purchase, timeframe of getting the product etc (under promise and over deliver here)
Last words – sending out an offer to your customers by email is an excellent way to get instant sales, making an irresistible offer will massively increase your sales, making it hard to buy will drop sales through the floor and massively reduce the likelihood that they will ever do business with you in the future.