Customers and sellers have different time zones. The problem is, the time zones they both use don’t match up!

Dean Jackson is one of the smartest marketers on the planet.

We were chatting recently and he put a concept in front of me that really got me thinking.

He said that in sales, customers only have two time zones – now and not now!

And here’s the mismatch of perspectives.

Sellers often think about the customer’s decision as a sequence. 

For the customer, it is actually a single decision point to “buy now”.

Businesses structure a sequence that forces the buyer through steps in a funnel, when the reality is they could “buy now” at any step in the sequence.

Too often the customer is ready to buy now, and the sales process doesn’t easily allow it.

Customers are not indecisive.

They are just uncertain.

When they are uncertain, the time is “not now”.

When they become certain, the time is “now”.

Their uncertainty is often because the seller is not clear.

Part of the superpower of visual models is that they create “buy now” clarity and certainty in every expression.

Do you have clear “buy now” triggers at each stage of your customer’s purchase journey that allows them to make that decision when they are ready?