Laura McGuire, a good friend and former colleague (now CEO of SmartTracks (www.smarttracks.com) had an interesting observation the other day. She said that most of the B2B marketers that she knows can describe their own marketing and sales process in great detail but could not do the same for the buying process of their prospects. After reflection, I concur with this statement. We tend to think that people want to buy in the same way that we like to sell. However, is this really the case, or is it just our desire to validate a way of doing business in which we have invested so much time, energy and money?

Aligning your marketing and selling process with your customers’ buying process is so important that I devote a chapter of my book, How to Create an Unstoppable Marketing and Sales Machine, to the topic (chapter 35 to be precise). In fact, it is one of the most important strategies of a master marketer. It makes you think more about them and less about you. Far too many companies are pre-occupied with every aspect of their business from an inside perspective and rarely get the chance to understand their business from the vantage point of the only people that really count – the customers that buy their products and services. The good news is that a shift in perspective to an outward focus can have a transformative impact on your business. Here are some ways that you can make it easy for people to do business with you:

1. Ask repeatedly. Don’t assume you know the buying motivations or preferred buying process of your prospects. And also don’t assume that because you’ve talked to a few of them you know the whole story. You may have several different prospect segments to investigate.
2. Don’t hide useful information. Companies tend to hold back information to ensure that prospects interact with their sales reps. However; many will leave and go to the companies who are more willing to share information.
3. Let prospects explore without pressure. For every sale that is closed because a sales rep convinced a reluctant prospect to speed up his purchase time frame, many others can be lost by chasing away prospects who are early in the buying process.
4. Don’t ask for too much data too early. There is a natural rhythm to the sales process. Usually, the prospect wants to do some self-education and kick the tires before getting serious. Let them download useful information without requiring full contact information. In other words, don’t give the prospect the third-degree before you allow him or her to download a simple article or data sheet. As you provide more in-depth and valuable information (e.g. a white paper), you can collect the email address, phone number, etc.
5. Go through the buying process yourself. Don’t ask new customers to go through a process that you have not experienced. Go to your Website and see if you can find the information you want quickly. Fill out your own Web forms. Call customer service and pretend you have a problem. Better yet, ask someone who is not an employee to go through these steps and alert you to any roadblocks they experience.

You will find that making it as easy as possible for people (and their companies) to do business with you is not only the right thing to do, it is also very profitable.