1.1. Introduction

Understanding the Buyer Journey

Is the decision to sign on the dotted line a single decision for your B2B prospect?

Hardly. A purchase of any sort involves a series of micro-decisions that a prospect makes on the way to making the final decision to sign on the dotted line with you.

We call these series of decisions the ‘Buyer Journey’

An Illustration:

Here’s an illustration of the various decisions that the prospect makes before saying yes to the purchase. Of course, these will be different for different products. This illustration is indicative, rather than being definitive.

Why you must care about the buyer journey?

If you wish to take the sale to its desired end, i.e. if you desire to win the sale, you must be able to identify and influence the various decisions that the customer will make.

You must identify at what stage in the journey the customer is at currently, and what the next stage will be. Then consider what you will need to do for the customer to move the sale forward. Focusing on the immediate micro-decision, rather than on the sale as a whole, will help direct your sales strategy for your next interaction.

An Exercise:

List the various decisions that your prospect would make on the way to the final ‘purchase’ decision.