Customer Buying Process
CSO Insights, after 17 years of studies, describes how sales needs to become more of a science rather than an art.
One of the ways companies can turn sales into a science is to learn and document how prospects actually buy -- and align your sales process accordingily.
The best way to learn how companies buy is to go talk to your existing customers. Ask them a series of questions, such as these?
- What was your internal process for buying?
- How did the process start?
- Where did you go for information?
- What problem where you trying to solve?
- Can you create a flow chart of your processs?
- How was the funding allocated and approved?
Another way is to take the path blazed by other vendors. Let's say your sales rep is talking to a company that uses Oracle for ERP. Chances are that the company will use the same buying process with you that they did with Oracle.
The better you document this process, the more effective your marketing will become. This also becomes your roadmap for marketing content development.
