Buyer’s Journey Part 3: Your Ideal Customer at Every Stage

(Last updated July 5, 2022)

The tidal wave of options available to buyer heroes can create an overwhelming journey toward your business.  To help them along their way, you must first understand their experiences as they move through the three stages of the Buyer’s Journey: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. 

By stepping into your buyer’s mindset, you can identify the steps you need to take to bring them right to your own front door. 

Consider for a moment how you make a purchase.

With large purchases especially, there's a great deal of research, engagement, and evaluations of different companies and products that lead up to that purchase. 

Being mindful of the fact that your customers—your buyer heroes—go through that same process before purchasing a product or service from you is a good way to stay focused on nurturing them toward that decision. 

That’s the power of empathy. 

Two Steps for Understanding Their Journey 

Appealing to your audience—flagging down your buyer hero—involves, first and foremost, knowing who they are and what they're experiencing at each stage of their journey toward your business. 

Understand these two things to appeal to your ideal customer: 

• Who your buyer hero IS
• What you can do to understand your buyer at each stage of their journey: awareness, consideration, and decision. 

Discovering these concepts will help your business find the right leads and clients over and over again. 

How Do You Know Who Your Buyer Hero Is? 

After all, you can’t help them if you miss them as they walk right on by, right?

Here’s a list to get you started on getting to know your buyer personas (and don’t forget to give them a name—that’s the fun part): 

• HubSpot offers free tools for identifying the buyer hero that's specific to your business.
• Read our Growth Blog on building your customer avatar. 
• Ask yourself: “Who is my north star buyer hero?” (Hint: They’re probably someone much like yourself. They’re consumers and business professionals who want to find the right solution to resolve a problem. Consider how you hope buying your product or service might go. What steps in that process would you want automated? Ability to purchase online?). 

Once You Know Who They Are, Show Up Where They Are

By understanding where your buyer hero is on their journey, the ups and downs that they experience along that path, and the perceptions that shape their thoughts, you and your team can better empathize with the buyer hero and position your product or service along that path. 

Let’s dig into what you might ask yourself in each stage of your buyer hero’s journey in order to help them.

AWARENESS 

During the awareness stage, your buyer hero is identifying their problem or challenge. In order to understand your buyer at this stage, consider the following questions: 

• How does the buyer describe their problem? 
• What kind of research is your buyer doing to find the solution?
• What consequences might they experience if they put off finding a solution? 
• What misconceptions might the buyer have about addressing their challenge?

Support your buyer hero by providing informational collateral that helps them continue on the path to purchase.

No need for anything gimmicky or salesy.

This is where our team's concept of "give without a get" comes in!

Be authentic as you post about what you know and offer the world in your business. Focus on being of service—offering up what knowledge you have in the spirit of service. 

CONSIDERATION 

At this stage on their journey, your buyer hero has put their hands on their hips and made a firm commitment to solving the problem that plagues them. They’re now considering all the different ways that their problem could be solved. Ask yourself these questions in order to understand your buyer hero at this stage: 

• What different kinds of solutions do buyers consider?
• How do buyers find information about each kind of solution?
• How do buyers consider the pros and cons of each solution?
• How do buyers decide which solution is right for them?

Do some soul-searching here and consider how and where your competitors are helping solve issues for people. Spend some time figuring out ways that you can add to that and do even more. 

Tip: Create materials that help your buyer hero understand more about the solutions that you offer. Offer it at every opportunity. 

DECISION

Progress! Your buyer hero has now decided exactly what to do about their problem, and all they have to do now is find which provider to choose. 

Hopefully, that will be YOU! 

Asking these questions about your buyer hero and what they’re considering now is key to winning them over at this point. 

• What criteria do buyers use to evaluate my business and that of my competitors?
• How does my business stand up against my competitors?
• Who needs to be involved in making the buying decision?
• Do buyers need to try out my product or service before they buy?
• Do buyers need any additional training or preparation before they buy?

At this home stretch, it’s important to think about the objections that your buyer hero might have to your product or service so that you can help them understand exactly why your business is the best choice for them.  

Tip: If your sales team is ready with the tools they need to overcome objections ahead of time, it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

Your Buyer's Journey is Also Your Journey

Remember: the most powerful tools you have at hand are your own ability to empathize with others and to just be yourself. 

Empathy and authenticity go a long way toward blazing not just a trail but a highway to your business. 

If you focus on the superpowers you already have, your buyer hero is as good as found, and that kind of thought leadership builds the exact kind of trust and loyalty that lasts and supports your business over time.  

Tip: If you haven't read our blog series on the buyer's journey, you're welcome to check it out here and here. 

Each one of us at Growth is trained and ready to help you identify the path your buyer hero needs to take to find your business.

Book a meeting with us anytime! We’ve got maps and charts and humans to help you wherever you are on YOUR journey.