They Ask, You Answer, 2nd Edition

2 A Massive Buying Shift and the Blur Between Sales and Marketing

Before we move on with the fall and, ultimately, the rise of River Pools and Spas, it’s critical we address a couple of fundamental truths that, unless understood and embraced, will prevent you from getting anything out of this book whatsoever.

The first is this: Consumer buying patterns have gone through a monumental shift over the past decade.

Specifically, the line between “sales” and “marketing” has been completely blurred, if not totally erased.

Multiple recent studies have shown one specific eye-popping statistic: Today, on average, 70 percent of the buying decision is made before a prospect talks to the company.

Yep, 70 percent.

In other words, before the sales pro ever enters the fray, 70 percent of the buying decision has already been made by the consumer.

And if you’re thinking this is a business-to-consumer study (B2C), you’re wrong. In fact, originally, this was a business-to-business (B2B) study.

Simply put, the 70 percent number resonates across the board regardless of business type, size, location, and so on.

Let’s take a minute to analyze what this all means.

If we went back a decade or so and asked what percentage of the buying decision was made before someone actually talked to the company, what do you think the number would have been?

Most folks would estimate between 20 and 40 percent, as would I.

So if we go with this number and were at 20 to 40 percent a decade ago, yet find ourselves at ...