Why Won’t People Buy From Me?

A common misconception with a lot of business owners is that  business transaction is a simple affair. People, potential customers won’t buy from you. What do you need to do to change this around?

Potential customers or prospects express interest in something, they buy, then they leave. This is a massive over-simplification of what is actually at work.

Business experts and entrepreneurs have spent decades plotting. They have exploited every step of a customer’s buying process so as to better attract and retain their business. There are three sequential steps that customers take when they show an interest in purchasing something.

Many business owners are unaware of how to best target each of these phases. Each phase reflects a different stage of their mentality, meaning that the ideal strategy to exploit each phase will differ.

So what are these three phases of the customer buying cycle? Why Won’t People Buy From Me?

The 3 Main Phases

Awareness – Interest and Purchase.

1. Awareness

This is the incipient phase of a prospects awareness of who you are and what you are all about. The phase of the customer buying cycle where prospects are making their first judgement of you. It is why a lot of marketing and advertising departments spend so much time and money polishing the image of their business. The importance of this stage is because it is where you can craft your message exactly to appeal to the desired market segment.

Another important tool to be used is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This is now a must use add on to all marketing campaigns and all forward moving businesses insert relevant keywords into their indexed pages with the intention of leading searching customers to their website. Here is a Google starter guide for SEO.

2. Interest

This is when prospects come to you.

The awareness phase is where you grab their attention, and this phase is where you have a chance to build upon it. Customers are typically non-committal during this phase; they are likely still doing plenty of research and shopping around. Targeting buyers during this phase means that you need to give your potential customer a compelling reason to purchase from you instead of your competitors.

The responsibility here is two-fold. First you need to market yourself as the solution to the prospects unique problem. Second, you need to address the customer’s needs and perspectives.

Businesses will frequently offer positive reviews and testimonials of their products to convince these prospects that they offer the solution to their needs. Offering a persuasive sales pitch is only half of the solution: make sure that the customer feels that you are concerned with what they want.

3. Purchase

This phase of the customer buying cycle includes not only the actual purchase of the good or service itself, but also the final evaluation.

A prospects might still be reviewing their options in this phase, but what differs from the interest phase is that they have shown a distinct desire to purchase the good or service in question. This gives you an opportunity to give the customer a more comprehensive overview of what it is that they wish to purchase, and it is also the appropriate time to up-sell additional products or features.

Car dealerships are especially fond of this point in the cycle. Once the customer sits down and begins negotiating the price of their future vehicle, the sales team moves in and does everything they can to get that person to buy the car. Whether they slash the price, throw in extra bonuses or offer them rebates, they will do whatever it takes to turn that expressed interest into an actual sale.

Why Won’t People Buy From Me? You now need and want the sales team to take over: the amount of persuasiveness and personal magnetism they exhibit are every bit as important as their receptiveness and concern for the customer’s needs.

How is your business attracting more customers?

To get more information on business coaching or any of my packages, call me on 07716 292378 or mail me at ianfinney@actioncoach.com