Your Consideration System

Relationships are the bedrock of any successful business. There is a BIG difference between getting someone to buy from you once and getting someone to want to come back over and over again.

As a mentor of mine once stated, “profitability comes from repeat business”. Great businesses, profitable businesses, are built on a customer base that buys from you more than once. In my opinion, this is built off developing a relationship.

We can spend time going deeper into how we sustain repeat business in a later post. Today, I wish to remain on the topic of customer acquisition and how the concept above (developing relationship) is just as important in acquisition marketing (generating leads and initial sales) as it is marketing for repeat business.

I call this section - The Consideration System.

Think back to a recent purchase you made - something that required a bit more of a decision before spending the money (in other words - not the 6 pack you bought at the gas station on Saturday afternoon). 

The purchase could have been significantly high in price or moderate - but either way, you had to consciously make a decision on the purchase. As a simple example, I recall back to choosing a piece of software to use for editing and planning out my social media posts. For you it could have been a vacation, a vehicle, furniture for your home…anything.

Got an experience in mind? Great!

Now, think about how you made the decision to buy that thing. At the very beginning, there was likely something that brought the items, service, etc. into your sphere of consciousness. This may have been an ad you saw on social media, a recommendation from a friend, a number on a list of recommendations following a simple Google search…anything. At the beginning, you were made aware.

In all reality, you likely came across this product or service in many ways before you really gave it any consideration. But once you were ready to give it a thought…what happened next?

Did you do your homework or did you simply hand over your credit card?

For most - homework was completed first. For some, this was a lot of homework, for others, not as much - depending on your individual needs and data points needed to make a decision. Either way, there was likely a few data points you needed to review before you were willing to make the purchase.

For my previous example - software for social media edits and management - I went through a process of reviewing their website, checking out all the features and things I would get from the platform. Then I looked up YouTube videos to explore what the platform really looked like, how people were using it, and get a sense of what people thought. I looked at a few reviews - some on the provider’s site, others on 3rd Party sites. I looked over a competitor or two, typing into Google “(platform 1) vs (platform 2) which is right for me?”. I looked at the price, I looked at my budget, I looked at what value it brought me and if I believed the result I could get was worth the money I would be investing. Then…I made my decision.

Did you have a similar experience? Did you do your homework online and watch videos of how the product or service works? Did you type in product A vs product B to see the pros and cons? Did you end up speaking to anyone in the sales department to get your questions answered? Did you try to get as many of your questions answered BEFORE connecting with a sales person?

This is the consideration phase.

If there is a consideration phase in a prospect’s purchase decision journey, then it makes sense for us to have a consideration system to help them navigate the path. This is where we have an opportunity to build an initial relationship with our prospects and take them on the guided journey to help them make the purchase decision.

Over the coming weeks, we will dive into how to do this in more depth. For today, I want you to think about where this is happening in your own customer journey. Think about how you saw an ad, clicked and downloaded a lead magnet, then began your consideration phase - doing your own homework, while also being guided by emails, texts, etc. from the company you just opted into. I want you to notice how once you click a link or opt into a form, you begin to see more of the company’s content and ads popping up in your newsfeed. You’ve been enrolled into their content ecosystem that is developed and designed to build relationship, credibility, and memory for you - so that when you are ready, you are much more likely to choose them over a competitor.

And for those sales people out there saying…Tanner, this is what we do in sales all the time! EXACTLY. The sales process…the process of building rapport and guiding a prospect…happens online…long before a prospect ever connects with a sales person. 

This is where marketing and sales gets fun.

Follow along and check in next week where we begin to break down the components of your consideration system and next steps to build one.