The problems in Marketing and Sales are familiar:
- How do we attract new customers?
- Why don’t our customers buy? Or, why DO they buy?
- How much should we invest in Sales and Marketing? Where should we invest it? How do we know if we are getting a good return?
- Which Marketing and Sales activities are producing results? What should we measure?
These challenges are compounded by the fact that power has shifted to the customer. In most of the world, customers have lots of choices and supply exceeds demand. The internet makes more information available to buyers. Information that sellers used to control is now widely available.
And the business buying process is more complex. More people are involved, products are more technical, buyers face integration issues, budgets are difficult to get approved.
Consequently, buyers face a lengthy journey in order to solve complex problems at their organization. At each stage of this journey they must answer certain questions and solve specific problems before they can continue to the next stage.
The Buyer's Journey
Organizations that want to help their buyers solve a problem know what to do. At each stage they help buyers answer their questions, solve their problems, and motivate them to continue to the next stage.
This, then, is the response to the challenge. The primary function of Marketing and Sales is to create value that motivates buyers to move from stage to stage in their journey.
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