What Does Your Buyer Want To Accomplish?
By Perry Rearick, Chief Editor, Follow Your Buyer
I recently purchased a new mountain bike from REI, a US-based outdoor gear company that knows how to consistently deliver a great customer experience. They do so by meeting the buyer where they are and helpfully guiding them along their journey.
As I stood in the bike section, a store employee approached. He did not begin by peppering me with bike specifications. Do you want a rear suspension? How about a dropper seat post and adjustable front forks? Let me tell you about the carbon frame technology! He didn’t even assume I wanted to purchase a bike just because I was looking at them.
Instead, he learned where I was in my buyer’s journey, first by confirming that I was interested in a bike and then exploring what I wanted to do with it. How experienced are you? Where will you ride it, improved surfaces, or back country trails? How steep will the slopes be? Do you anticipate going over rocks larger than a softball?
As B2B sellers, do we take the time understand where our buyer is in their journey and where they want to go? How often do we treat them all the same and place them where we want them to be in our sales process? We often gain someone’s contact information and add it to a drip campaign with hundreds or thousands of others. They all receive the same impersonal messaging about our latest service offering or new product. Buyers don’t like this!
Consider trying the REI approach. Learn where your prospect is in their journey, ask them where they’re headed and what they want to accomplish, and helpfully guide them along their path.
I hope you have a great week!
--Perry