This past week I was teaching my Marketing Bootcamp class and had developed the "buying cycle" of a potential client/customer. This was compiled from a lot of research through various marketing statistics. Since the class has shown so much interest in this information, I thought I would share this with all of you, too.

How long does it take for a prospective client to buy? The following includes contact through various sources, such as advertising, networking, newsletters, mail outs, emails, personal contact, speaking, press releases, etc.

1. The first time someone hears about you or sees your name, they don’t usually remember.
2. The second time, they don’t even notice.
3. The third time, they become somewhat conscious of your existence.
4. The fourth time, they barely remember having met you or seeing your name.
5. The fifth time, they actually read your message.
6. The sixth time, they turn their nose up at it.
7. The seventh time, they read your message and say “Oh brother!”
8. The eighth time, they say “Here’s that confounded thing again!”
9. The ninth time, they wonder if you will make it in business.
10. The tenth time, they ask their friends if they have heard of you.
11. The eleventh time, they wonder if your advertising (or marketing) brings you any business.
12. The twelfth time, they start believing you must be good at what you do.
13. The thirteenth time, they think you might be worth doing business with. (Sad to say, but it's usually around this time that a business will sometimes just give up - and they are SO CLOSE and don't even know it!)
14. The fourteenth time, they remember they have wanted to do business with you for a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, they are worried they may not be able to afford buying from you.
16. The sixteenth time, they think they will buy from you some day.
17. The seventeenth time, they make a memo about you.
18. The eighteenth time, they are still worried they can’t afford to purchase from you.
19. The nineteenth time, they start to justify why doing business with you is a good value.
20. The twentieth time they see you or your message, they decide now is the time to buy.

To put this into prospective, if it takes at least 20 times to be remembered, the buying cycle would take:

But, if you combine many efforts, such as:

But, keep in mind, they…

• Have to be your ideal client
• Have to be convinced of your value
• Have to be able to afford you (or you provide ways to buy using payments)
• And, they don’t have any limiting fears of buying (they want or need your product and they KNOW you, LIKE you, and TRUST you first)

Marketing efforts that can speed up the cycle (if done correctly - and, this is key):

• Networking effectively to the right audience clearly = 5 times more value 
• Keynote speaking and doing presentations to the right audience effectively = 10 times more value
  (A lot of people do not network effectively and when they speak or do presentations, they are
  ineffective in turning the presentation into a marketing advantage for themselves and their business.)

If you have any questions about this information or need any help developing your marketing plan, just let me know. May your fame always come from stardom and never from infamy – unless you do so by choice!

Carmen Wisenbaker, The Publicity Diva
(alter ego and pen name: Casey Lee)
carmen@penworth.com
Speaker, Author, Marketing Coach
Penworth Publishing & Publicity
www.penworth.com
(281) 404-5019