Click Here For The: Understanding The Customer Buying Cycle Video
By understanding the customer buying cycle you are preparing yourself for a successful sales career. Although the importance of understanding the sales process can not be understated, you must learn your customers buying cycle to be a truly great sales professional.
The Customer Buying Cycle
Awareness of Needs
- Customer becomes aware of his needs.
- Customer recognizes that her needs and problems are growing.
- Customer comes to terms with the fact that significant problems exist and that he must take action.
Research of Options
- Customer does the necessary research to find the best fit for her product.
- Customer considers several vendors who have expertise in the industry.
- Customer narrows the search to a few companies who seem to have a fitting solution for his exact needs.
Decision to Purchase
- Customer makes the decision to purchase the product.
- Customer identifies a single vendor who is the best fit to solve his problem, address his specific needs, and bring the most value.
Implementation of Product/Service
- Customer installs and uses the product/service.
- Customer will form an opinion on whether to use this vendor again, based on this experience and the service she received from the company.
- As time goes on and other needs arise, the customer may or may not call on this vendor for another product.
| “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.”
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How Customers Make Decisions
Decision to Purchase
Gathering proposals
- First, the customer must first invite select reps to meet with him.
- He discusses the situation so the sales reps can fully understand the situation and problems he faces.
- After determining which reps seem to best understand his situation, he must then decide which companies to invite to submit a proposal.
Identifying the best solution/vendor
- After receiving proposals, the customer and his internal team must analyze all factors to ensure that the proposed solution fits their exact needs.
- They must carefully consider service, delivery, quality, and pricing because problems with any of those will have ramifications on their business.
- After evaluating the proposals, the customer identifies the best solution and chooses the vendor.
Understanding your customers buying cycle is extremely important. If you review this content and put it into practice, you will become more successful as a sales professional.
