
How to win friends and influence the influencers 159
Although your customers and prospects may vary in size,
most companies share a common buying cycle. This can help
you determine the nature of your marketing campaign. The
buying cycle typically moves through four key stages:
1 Identify a business need.
2 Research a solution.
3 Design and evaluate different solutions.
4 Purchase.
Decision makers need different types of information at
different stages of the buying cycle. When they are first
investigating a business need, they may not be familiar with
your company or understand how your products and services
meet their nee ...