Are You Removing Your Purchasing Friction Points?

Four ways to think like your clients to remove friction from the buying process.

There has never been a more complicated time in the history of sales transactions. Information is cheaper and easier to gather than ever, and most organizations struggle to keep pace with an ever more knowledgeable buyer. The truth is that consumers are in the driver's seat of almost any sales transaction because they have access to more information and choices than ever before. Because of this, complicated buying decisions are now made in real time, and it's up to selling organizations to keep customer friction points to a minimum.

The branded merchandise space is no different than any other industry – you're not in the business of selling things; you're in the business of helping people buy things. The best way to help your clients purchase promotional products is by reducing or even eliminating the friction points in your sales process. In a competitive industry, too many alternatives exist should your client encounter friction. The fact is, friction kills the customer experience.

Every buying process has subtle friction points on the purchasing journey, and the easiest way to eliminate that friction is to think like the consumer. Providing a purchasing journey that is as close to frictionless as possible depends on your ability to relate, empathize, and understand what your client needs in order to make their purchase.

In sales, we often wax poetic about the sales funnel and where prospects are at any given point along their individual purchasing journey. One thing that most salespeople forget, however, is that the rules of gravity don't apply to the sales funnel, which means there's no guarantee that a prospect will ever make their way to the bottom. Minimizing friction is the only way to keep a prospect moving through their purchasing journey and increase the chances they will make it to the bottom.

To minimize the friction along the purchasing journey, you have to think like the customer in these specific areas:

1. Content – Your website, blog, social media, and other marketing avenues require great content to generate leads and convert sales. In other words, supply prospects and clients with the knowledge it takes to make a purchasing decision. Your content – beginning with your website – should communicate exactly what your customers want to know in the most distilled form possible.

2. Customer Experience – A brand is no longer what we tell consumers it is – it's what consumers tell each other it is. Every single client touch point should fulfill your brand promise to drive a positive customer experience that people are willing to pay for again and again.

3. People – Salespeople and support staff often neglect to see the importance of reducing friction from the client's perspective. Ensure that you remind your people to approach each sales transaction with empathy as if they were making the purchasing decision themselves.

4. Relationships – The simple reality is that relationships with current and, most importantly, repeat clients eliminate friction. One of the most significant friction points - and the most difficult to overcome - is lack of trust. Relationships that are nurtured instill trust, which is often the reason someone buys.

It's a complicated time, and businesses unwilling or unable to adapt their models to reflect this client-dictated sales process will experience difficulties. For example, why didn't the Yellow Pages come up with Google, or why didn't taxi companies develop Uber? Because they got stuck in their traditional way of approaching the customer experience and didn't consider the world from the viewpoint of their clients. As such, they were unable to empathize with their clients and, therefore, couldn't recognize the friction points.

By understanding the purchasing journey through the eyes of the customer, you can begin to eliminate friction and provide an experience that matters at each point in the sales funnel. Just like the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the quickest way to escort your client through their purchasing journey is by eliminating your own friction points.