Page 118 - The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - PDFDrive.com

industry of the company, the role of the buyer, and so forth. In the example in
Figure 11.2, we are targeting three buyer personas: Small Business, Mid-Market,
and Enterprise.

The horizontal axis (x-axis) shows the different stages through which the buyer
progresses during the buyer journey. These stages of the buyer will likely
change, hopefully as quickly as possible. In this example, we have three stages
of the buyer journey: Problem Education, Solution Research, and Solution
Selection.

With the buyer personas and the buyer journey defined, our example buyer
matrix is established! The three-by-three matrix yields nine unique “buyer
states,” with each buyer state representing a specific buyer persona at a specific
stage in the buying journey. We are now in a position to customize the
experience that each buyer has with our company based on who they are and
where they are in the process. We can customize our marketing, our sales, our
product, and our customer support to match their buyer state.

As an example, assume a potential buyer is in the “Small Business/Problem
Education” buyer state. We should strive to customize her entire experience with
our company based on her buyer state. When this buyer visits our website, she
should be greeted with a call to action to download an ebook on small business
marketing trends in 2014. If the sales team connects with this buyer, the sales
team should reference educational collateral we developed for buyers early in
their buying journey.

On the other hand, if we are dealing with a potential buyer in the “Small
Business/Solution Selection” buyer state, the call to action on the website should
be to read a case study about a small business customer in his industry. When the
sales team engages with this buyer, the sales team should reference ROI reports
summarizing our similar customers' success with our products. The prospective
buyer's experience with the entire company is optimized for that buyer's state.

When you first set up the matrix, do not feel pressure to create a highly
customized, thoroughly tested experience for each buyer state right away.
Instead, implement something basic for each box. Use your gut. Form some
theories.

Once the basic theories are in place, make sure you have a way to measure the
performance of the tactics within each buyer state. How many buyers enter each
buyer state every month? How many buyers move on in their journey? How
many buyers get stuck or exit the funnel? Where do they get stuck and after how