Re-thinking the Buyer Adoption Curve

Hiding in the dark corners of the marketing world are those who believe that nearly 80% of the available buyers in a market…don’t buy. I’ve always believed that if, all things being equal, I could get to a buyer earlier I could beat my competitors. But what if I could tap an ocean of buyers that no one can seem to get to? No, these aren’t hidden buyers, they are out there looking. They are just confused and can’t make a decision because no one is really helping them solve their problem during their problem solving phase.

Using the term “problem” is a simple way to view this; but one that is digestible. Actually, we each have

• Jobs to be Done — The purpose behind the purchase of a product or service

• A Situation — The context of the job to be done

• Problems — The important and unmet needs (or desired outcomes) relative to the job (or a step in the job) that Buyers will use to measure how successful your solution is in helping them get the job done satisfactorily.

In the B2B world, our problem …