You will be able to name the stages of a buying decision and say what a buyer needs from a seller at each one.
Think about the last time you bought something that cost real money. A laptop, a gym membership, a sofa. You probably did not walk into a shop, meet a salesperson and decide on the spot. The process started weeks earlier in your own head, and by the time you spoke to anyone selling it, most of the work was done.
That earlier work is what this lesson is about. A buying decision passes through five stages whether a seller is involved or not, and once you can tell which stage a buyer has reached, you know what to say and, just as usefully, what to keep to yourself.
The first is noticing. Something is wrong or could be better: the old laptop takes four minutes to start, the rent went up, a friend pays half as much for the same phone plan. Nobody is shopping yet. They are only aware of a gap.
Then comes researching, once the gap bothers them enough. They search, read reviews, ask a group chat or an AI assistant to explain what is out there. What they want at this point is a sense of the kinds of solution that exist, and choosing one is still some way off.
Comparing is the third stage. There is a shortlist now, and the questions get specific. Which one fits my budget? Which one suits someone with my hours and my family? People read the fine print here, and this is where most of them first talk to a seller.
At the fourth stage they decide. They pick one, or they decide to do nothing, which is a real outcome and a common one. The next lesson is about it.
The last stage, justifying, comes after the money has gone. People look for reasons it was the right call, reread the reviews they agreed with and tell friends why they chose it. A buyer who still feels unsure asks for a refund, cancels during a free-look period, or simply never recommends you.
A lot of the research now happens before anyone contacts a seller. By the time a person replies to your message or books a call, they have often seen the main options and formed opinions about them, some right and some wrong.
So your job has changed. You are rarely the first source of information. More often you help a buyer make sense of what they found, correct what they got wrong, and add what only someone close to the product would know.
Most sellers want to explain the product as soon as a conversation starts. With someone who is still noticing, that backfires. They have not agreed there is a problem worth solving, so a pitch feels like being hurried towards a decision they have not begun.
Picture a financial adviser at a friend's wedding. Another guest mentions that their parents are getting older. The adviser could start describing a policy, and the guest would make an excuse and find the buffet. Or the adviser could ask what made them start thinking about it, and the conversation would carry on for twenty minutes. One reply treats the guest as someone comparing products. The other meets them where they actually are.
Offered at the wrong stage, a good product sounds like pressure, and offered at the right one it sounds like help.
Noticing: help them define the problem. Ask what prompted the thought, what it costs them, and what happens if nothing changes. Researching: explain the options honestly, and that includes the ones you do not sell. The seller who describes the whole category fairly is usually the one buyers come back to. Comparing: help them weigh what matters in their situation rather than what flatters your product. Deciding: make it easy and low-risk, with clear terms and an obvious next step. Justifying: follow up after the sale, check that it works, and answer the question they were too embarrassed to ask before signing.
Only one of those five involves describing your product in any detail. Sellers who treat every conversation as a comparing conversation miss most of the ways they could be useful.
Buyers rarely announce their stage, so ask. A few plain questions do most of the work: what made you start looking into this, what have you looked at so far, have you ruled anything out, and how soon would you want it sorted?
The answers place people quickly. "I'm not sure it's even a problem" belongs to the noticing stage, while a buyer who names three competitors and their prices is well into comparing. Listen to the whole answer before you decide what to say next. In the activity below you will write your own version of these questions so they are ready for your next conversation.
Write down three questions you could ask a new prospect to find out which stage of the buying process they are in.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).