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.
