The Buying Process - Understanding the Steps Every Customer Takes on the Path to a Deal
The four stages of a customer's buying process are: Need; Requirements; Solution; and Deal. I'll put each of these into context by relating them to a simple buying decision - choosing a bar of chocolate. You’ll have to imagine yourself actually buying chocolate here. Hard, I know, but bear with me.
You’re hungry. That’s the situation and, understandably, you want to get rid of that feeling. Your future situation - where you want to get to - is satisfied hunger. You’ll have reasons to back this up: hunger makes you low in energy; it makes you grouchy; and hey, you may faint - that would be embarrassing. Satisfying your hunger, on the other hand, can give you some extra energy or it can make you feel capable of tackling that tricky assignment.
This set of conditions marks the Need stage of the buying process. However, you still have questions about which food will best satisfy your hunger.
As you examine the nature of your hunger - more of a nagging rumble than a ravenous, echoing hole, say - you decide that it’s a snack that’s required. There’s no need for a large meal. What sort of snack? Well, given the circumstances - you’re out and about and you have a client meeting in ten minutes - you think a cold snack would be best. You’ve got your first set of Requirements.
Weighing up your preferences, asking a few judicious internal questions, and relying on past experience leads you to decide that a cold, sweet snack is in order. And it should have chocolate. A bar of chocolate fits the bill perfectly. You’ve chosen the Solution.
Standing in front of the shop counter you complete the final step in the process when you select the exact type of chocolate bar and agree the Deal.
Now, this may seem a flippant example but however simple the final deal may appear, this is the process followed by buyers whatever the final product or service. What differentiates the process of buying a bar of chocolate from buying a network storage installation is not the steps involved but the time taken for each step.
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Source: www.ezinearticles.com