Zero moment of truth

We must understand how today’s buyer has changed; this is such a big deal. What is the difference between the buyer of today and yesterday?

Study shows that today’s buyer has already made seventy per cent of their buying decision before they talk to a salesperson before they talk to the organisation.

You see, the moment somebody talks to your organisation, the moment that you realise they exist, that is called zero moment of truth.

And we know that on average, seventy per cent of the buying decision is made before zero moment of truth.

What does this mean for your organisation? Is this something you have discussed with your team? If you haven’t discussed this with your team, we need to discuss it.

It’s one of those things where everybody has to be on the same page here because it dramatically affects what it means for sales and what it means for marketing. 

If seventy per cent of the buying decision is made before they talk to sales, marketing has a more significant impact on the sale than the sales department.

When a company is in financial trouble, the first department that gets laid off is, yes, that’s right, marketing. When we’re looking to grow the business, the first department hired is sales. 

We’ve been doing it that way for a long, long time. If you speak with most CFOs or accountants. Most still classify sales as revenue and marketing as an expense which is scary and misguided. 

In today’s age, the idea that marketing is a straight expense especially when somebody comes to you and says they already know what they want. I’ve done all my research.

Your website was very helpful, and this is what I want, and these are the features I want with it.

Well, your salesperson is going to write up that deal. But what percentage of the sale did that salesperson have?

I’m not saying this is the end of the world for sales. I’m saying we have to evolve how we see sales and marketing.

The evolution works like this: sales need to realise that you need to be a part of marketing.

I need to be a part of that seventy per cent. I need to inject myself into the sales process much sooner. At the same time, marketing must recognize that they must be accountable for revenue.

As for marketing, they can’t just produce fluffy stuff, laugh and say that’s marketing. Isn’t it nice?

We need to show the returns for our activity and where we are heading.

The customer is not going to slow down. That seventy percent is going to grow and grow and grow.

In fact, in your industry, it might be much higher than that right now.

In your industry, it could also be lower than seventy per cent right now, but we can all agree it’s dramatically higher than it was just a decade ago.

And that’s the thing that won’t stop, and this is what your organisation has to understand, so have this conversation with your team and make sure everyone is on the same page with this thing that we call zero moment of truth.