Marketing Automation – Be Sure You Know the Typical Buying Lifecycle for Your Business

So you are a business owner and have something to sell. You are looking for more customers and are considering marketing automation.

There are a number of things that you need to consider before you even look at marketing systems and software. If you answer these questions upfront and even map out your thoughts on paper first then it will make things much easier when you talk to autopilot marketing system vendors such as office autopilot or infusionsoft.

Over the next few articles we will look at some of these questions and what their answers mean in the context of marketing automation. In this article I want to look at the question of “how long is the typical buying cycle for your product or service?”

If you are selling something easily purchased such as a loaf of bread or dry cleaning service then the buying process is going to typically be very short. Something along the lines of: no bread – go to shop – buy bread. This kind of buying decision is made usually within a few minutes, and at the very most hours, of the customer identifying a need.

Contrast this with the buying cycle for a more complex purchase such as a new car or kitchen. In this situation the buying process can go on for months and might go something like this: need a new car – talk to friends – research cars online – visit car dealers – purchase car magazines – take test drives – talk to friends again – apply for loan – purchase car. This kind of buying decision can be very drawn out over many months or even years.

Clearly the type of marketing process and follow up for these two very different buying cycles is going to vary enormously. If you have a business with a buying cycle that is long and drawn out then marketing automation can be extremely important to follow up, educate and remind your leads that you are there. The trouble is that most sales people do not step back and think about this. They get a lead, can’t understand why they don’t want to buy right now and then move on to the next lead.

Once you know the buying cycle for your typical prospects then you can put in place a proper marketing system tailored to that buying cycle. So in the example of the car purchase if you were to capture the contact details of the prospect early on in the buying cycle you would then be able to communicate with them on a regular basis over a number of months. You could send them details of new models, a regular list of second hand vehicles available, testimonials of happy customers, brochures on new features, checklists on things to look out for when buying a car. There are lots of ways to follow up and remind the client that you exist.

But who do you think is going to have a better chance of making the sale in this example the one time salesman or the business owner who has taken the time to see things from his customers perspective and properly understand their buying process and cycle.

Here are some ways that small businesses users who have thought about the buying process are using marketing automation to put their follow up on autopilot.