Use the Buyer’s Journey to Increase Sales
Episode #1 of the course Drive sales with inbound lead generation by Roy Harmon
Hi! I’m Roy Harmon, a marketer with eight years of experience generating leads in a number of different industries. In this course, I’d like to break down the lead generation process so you can generate, nurture, and close leads of your own.
Today, we’re going to start by talking about a foundational lead gen concept.
The Buyer’s Journey
According to a study by Aberdeen, “aligning content to specific stages of the buyer’s journey yields 73% higher average conversion rates.”
In other words, the key to successful lead generation is context. That means you need to send the right messages to the right people at the right time (i.e., the right stages of the buying process).
But what is the buyer’s journey?
The buyer’s journey describes the journey that potential customers (“prospects”) take as they search for solutions to their problems. By understanding this concept, you can begin to develop content that is contextually relevant to your prospects at each stage of the sales funnel.
The Awareness Stage. At the beginning of their journey, your prospects aren’t thinking about buying anything. They just have a problem. They might not even know it yet.
This is called the Awareness stage. The first step toward making a sale is to attract your target market with content relevant to the problem you solve. In the Awareness stage, you’ll be reaching out broadly to everyone who has the problem you solve.
The goal is to attract everyone who has the problem with content that shows the full impact of the problem. The reason you want to show the impact of the problem is to motivate them to continue the journey.
The Consideration Stage. Once they’re aware they have a problem, your prospects will begin to look for solutions. This is called the Consideration stage. Here, you want to provide content that will attract people looking for ways to deal with the problem you solve.
The Decision Stage. Finally, your prospect is ready to make a purchase. They’ve decided they like the kind of solution you offer; now you’ve got to close the deal.
At this stage, you’ll be targeting people who know they want a solution like yours. Your job now is to show them that you’re the best option in your category.
An Example
Imagine you sell umbrellas. A man wakes up one morning and sees that it’s raining. He gets soaked on the way to his car. Maybe he’s just moved to Seattle from Phoenix. After getting rained on a few times, he knows he’s got a problem. He’s in the Awareness stage.
He starts looking at raincoats, umbrellas, and large brimmed hats to find a way to stay dry. Now he’s in the Consideration stage.
Once he settles on an umbrella as the answer to his problem, he has to decide which umbrella he wants to purchase. That’s the Decision stage.
Context Is Key
The buyer’s journey plays a very important role in lead generation. Demand Gen Report has found that “companies who have successfully deployed lead nurturing programs showed an ‘average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads.’”
This course will teach you how to use the buyer’s journey to design effective lead management platforms. You’ll learn the basics of good lead management architecture, so you can create cross-channel lead generation campaigns that result in more sales for your business.
Tomorrow, we’ll be talking about lead management architecture. We’ll cover:
• How can you double your sales with good lead management architecture?
• What’s a funnel?
• How do you build a funnel?
Answers to all these questions and more await as you continue the course. See you tomorrow!
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