
Let’s say you are educating your prospect. What do you want them to do next? The answer: you want them to move up the next step or two in your sales process.
Marketing is like climbing a staircase. Suspects are at the bottom of the staircase.
Prospects are in the middle.
Customers are at the top.
In most sales especially the larger sale—your target market starts out as a suspect at the bottom of the staircase. Then, they move up the staircase and become a prospect. Finally, they move up the staircase and become a customer.
Warning:Before you ask them to take a step, you’d better know your own sales process. What is the next, logical step you’d like them to take?
Your goal is to move your target market from the bottom to the top, one step at a time, from one level to the next. Normally, your target market starts out as a suspect, becomes a prospect and eventually turns into a customer.
If you’re like me, when going up a staircase, you normally take one step at a time. Sometimes you can skip steps, but normally you don’t. It’s easier if you take one step at a time.
Of course, your target market can go from a suspect to a customer in one leap, bypassing the prospect steps all together. But in most sales, it’s best to gently and carefully move them up the marketing staircase one step at a time: suspect…prospect…customer.
Your prospect wants to be lead by someone they trust. They will trust you if they feel you have their best interests at heart.
Good marketing is a step-by-step process. You want to guide your suspects and prospects and customers up the staircase gently, easily, naturally one step at a time.
In the smaller sale, there may be only a few steps or even one step. However, in the larger sale, there may be multiple steps.
When advertising, your goal is to move them from one level to another up your marketing staircase.
Ask your prospect to take baby steps rather than giant leaps. And don’t be afraid if it takes a while. Of course, we’d all prefer a sale today rather than tomorrow. But sometimes the buying process takes longer. Direction is more important than speed.
Be patient. Systematically educate and motivate your prospect to move up the marketing staircase until they are ready to buy.
How many steps does it take to get your suspects to go from the bottom to the top?
It depends. The important thing is movement up the marketing staircase.
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