The Buyer’s Journey Through a Micro Lens

The Ambiguous &: Business Basics & Beyond

In this episode, host Molly Beyer addresses one more key step in the buyer’s journey by viewing it through a micro lens. She talked about the bigger picture last episode, but now is focusing on the smaller, daily decisions in a buyer’s process. When people set out to make a purchase, they go through a predictable information-gathering stage before taking action. So, how can you capture their interest amongst all the businesses in your industry? By guiding them through the decision steps.

There are three key stages that every buyer goes through before making a purchase. Molly lists them as 1) awareness, 2) consideration, and 3) decision. Capturing the buyer’s interest before the decision to purchase is vital for positioning your business as the clear choice. Aiding them through the decision-making process involves reminding them how your business understands their pain point and helps remove it. Molly explains specific ways to communicate that message.

Molly emphasizes that businesses' biggest mistake is stopping communication at the first touch point. It takes anywhere from 20 to 100 touchpoints before a buyer makes a purchase decision. Molly explores strategies such as retargeting ads, social proof and authority, and personal outreach as ways to continue communication with potential buyers and help them through their decision-making. When the next steps are clear and simple, buyers are more likely to act. Join Molly in examining the buyer’s journey through a micro lens.

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Contact Molly Beyer:

• MKBeyerBooks.com
• MKBeyerConsults.com
• Facebook: MK Beyer Books
  
  

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Transcript

Molly 0:09

Hello. I am Molly Byer, host of the Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond, a podcast where we have frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and find success. There are so many ands that impact being your own boss. Join us as we explore all these ands and more. Like subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts, and let's explore these ambiguous ands.

0:38

Hello and welcome to the Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond. I'm your host, Molly Beyer, and I'm here to lead you through frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Today, we're zooming in to view the buyer's journey through a micro lens. So we've talked about the bigger picture, but what about the smaller daily decision making process? People don't just wake up and make a purchase, they go through a predictable internal and information gathering stage before taking any action. In fact, 99% of your viable prospects are still investigating. They're researching, they're comparing, and they're looking for the best value. The problem is that if your website or marketing is just like every other business in your industry, customers have to default to choose based on price. The key is positioning yourself as the clear choice by strategically guiding them through that decision making process. So again, most businesses are really only focusing on that moment of purchase, but before that, buyers are moving through three key stages. The first one is awareness. This is when the buyer realizes that they have a problem but may not fully understand what it is that they need yet. An example could be an entrepreneur that's feeling overwhelmed and doesn't know if their solution is a business coach finding automations or hiring a virtual assistant. So your job is then to provide educational content that speaks to their pain points. The next stage they go through is consideration. This is when the buyer is actively researching their solutions. They're comparing options, they're looking for that value. So an example here could be a small business owner who knows they need marketing help, but they're debating between hiring a consultant, running their own ads, or just kind of learning how to do this on their own. So your job is to provide proof of expertise. You give them case studies, testimonials and value packed resources. The last stage that they go through is a decision. So this is when they are ready to commit, but they're looking for a compelling reason to choose you. So an example could be a fitness client that has decided they need a coach, but is debating between programs, so then your job is to make it easy with clear differentiation, urgency and an irresistible offer. The problem again, most businesses are only speaking to the 1% of buyers ready to buy right now. So if that 99% of viable prospects are still investigating we need to keep them from defaulting to choose based on price. The key is to position yourself as that clear choice by, again, strategically guiding them through their decision making process. So we're gonna go back to entering the conversation happening in their head. You demonstrate your unique understanding of their condition while drawing that straight line from that condition to what you do. So we're again going to use our market dominating position to create a compelling offer. Remember your market dominating position that is taking that simple statement about what you do, refining it down to that I help my ideal client to do what I do for them without the pain they want to avoid. So I'm going to do a quick reminder, because we've got our great three examples, we're just going to stick with them because of the market dominating positions from those three examples. Our business coach, their market dominating position was helping purpose driven entrepreneurs scale with strategy and collaboration so they can achieve sustainable success without burnout, guesswork or endless hustle. Our marketing consultant, their market dominating position helping small business owners create profitable, data driven marketing strategies that attract their ideal customers without wasting time or money on guesswork. And our fitness coach was helping busy professionals get stronger, leaner and more energized without hours in the gym or restrictive diets. So we're going to put these back now into a compelling offer, and we're going to use the conversion equation. Remember that it is to interrupt, engage, educate and offer. So we're going to use this framework to increase conversions by incorporating it into all of our marketing media. Into our website, into our social media, into anything that we're sending. Out even into our messaging as we're talking to people.

5:04

So our business coach scaling entrepreneurs without burnout, they can start out by saying something like: Overwhelmed by scaling? Stop spinning your wheels and build a business that thrives without burnout. Discover the simple framework to grow your business with strategy and collaboration so you can increase revenue without working 24/7, so we've grabbed them. This is maybe on the front of your website. So then what do you do? You give them case studies, you give them video testimonials, you give them a breakdown of your simple framework. And then you need to pull them in with your offer, your irresistible lead magnet. This is what is going to get them set to work with you. So here, maybe it's a free scale, smarter business growth audit and a 15 minute strategy call. This is not only giving them a free resource, it's also giving them access to you. Because remember, you need to tell them why you are the right person for them. We want to work with who we know, like and trust. If they get on a 15 minute strategy call with you, how are they going ...