Sales people get confused when I suggest they can’t ’understand’ the buyer’s needs if they approach a sale with this outcome. Without everyone on board who will lend their voice to a possible solution, buyers cannot understand it themselves. And using the sales model, we can’t help: we’ll never understand what’s going on behind-the-scenes as they figure out who should be involved, what must be [...]

People are getting confused about the terms buying decision journey, buying path, buy-cycle, helping buyers buy, and  buying  decisions. Using a case study, let’s look at how a real buying decision happens.
When I began using the terms in the 80s my meaning described a change management process to lead buyers through their non-solution/non-need-related, behind-the-scenes internal and political issues that [...]

Until the people that will touch a potential new solution buy-in to altering the status quo (their policies, relationships, rules, past decisions, job descriptions, etc), they will not make a purchase or a change: they will continue the dysfunctional behavior through time, even when an ideal solution is right in front of them.
Does this make sense – to keep [...]

In the 23 years I’ve been writing about and teaching Buying Facilitation®, I’ve come up with dozens of terms to explain my intent re  ’the buyer’s journey’ or ‘the buyer’s decision path’.
I originally labelled the trip through the behind-the-scenes issues buyers must contend with (those political, relational, strategic issues that will be touched when a new solution enters) [...]

Sales folks like having control. You ‘understand the need’, ‘manage the relationship‘, ’follow the digital footprint’, send the ‘right’ data at the ‘right’ time.
But what, exactly, can you be in control of? You are in control of the details about your solution, and how it’s used in a particular setting, and the data you seek from prospects. You certainly have [...]

A term the larger marketing automation firms are trying to promote is dubbed ‘revenue performance management.’ What does this mean? Who’s performance are they hoping to monetize?
It’s been fascinating to me that the major players in the field insist they ‘know’ the buyer’s decision path.