Has Your Business Shifted?

Since the invention of the Internet browser, when the Internet went mainstream, the power has shifted from the seller to the buyer. Prior to this milestone, product and service information was very limited to buyers and likely only available from salespeople. The seller controlled the information; therefore, the seller had more power in the buying process. Today, product and service information is widely available including information about your company’s reputation and competition, and the buyer has more power than ever before in the buying process. The buying process has transformed shifting the power from seller to buyer.

If the buying process has transformed, shouldn’t your marketing and sales processes transform to align with the empower buyer? Of course, it should.

Inbound marketing and sales, whether it’s eCommerce, brick and mortar or over the phone is about aligning with how people want to buy today.

Think about it for a moment…

When you personally are about ready to make a major purchase, what is the first thing you are likely to do? In a majority of cases, you are going to turn to Google search or some other online resource to begin conducting your research seeking the useful content necessary to make a good buying decision. During your search, you may find blog posts, eBooks and/or online reviews that educate you on the problem you are attempting to solve or the goal you want to reach, the buying options you have available and ultimately how to make a good buying decision. During that buying process, you will encounter incredibly useful content from a brand that really helped you make a good buying decision. Because of that help from that brand, you begin to build affinity with that brand, and in many cases decide to buy from that brand.

Sounds totally obvious; however, has your business shifted to this new reality?