EDITOR Hugh Dubberly hugh@dubberly.com
Dubberly Design Office | hugh@dubberly.com
Carnegie Mellon University | evenson@andrew.cmu.edu
Stage
In this article, we contrast the “sales cycle” and related models with the “experience cycle” model. The sales cycle model is a traditional tool in business that frames the producer-customer relationship from the producer’s point of view and aims to funnel potential customers to a transaction. The experience cycle is a new tool, synthesizing and giving form to a broader, more holistic approach being taken by growing numbers of designers, Time brand experts, and marketers. The experience cycle frames the producer-customer relationship from the customer’s point of view and aims to move well beyond a single transaction to establish a relationship between producer and customer and foster an ongoing conversation.
We acknowledge the sales-cycle model has value. And designers need to be familiar with it. But when the sales cycle comes up as a topic of discussion in a client engagement, designers should also think of the experience cycle as an alternative frame—and should introduce it into the discussion. We believe the experience cycle is a more useful model not only for designers but also for marketing and sales people, because it is more likely to lead to an experience of lasting value for customers, and thus greater long-term value for producers.
The sales cycle is a model commonly used in business. It often frames the basic structure of marketing and sales activities, providing a practical template for planning.
The sales cycle describes the series of steps leading to a sale (or purchase), including awareness, consideration, and selection. The goal is to push customers to buy—advertising to increase familiarity, informing to build knowledge, offering incentives to close a deal.
The sales cycle also refers to the time required to complete the sales process. The length of the sales cycle varies depending on the cost, complexity, and context of use of the product being sold. For example, a hospital information system might have
Awareness
Consideration
Selection
Pool size
Potential audience
Interested prospects
Actual customers
The funnel shaped sales-cycle model
a three-year sales cycle; a new game console might have a sales cycle lasting a few days or weeks.
The sales cycle does not have a single, canonical form. Many variations appear in the literature, and in practice people often tailor the model, adding or subtracting steps to fit their own situations. A common characteristic of sales-cycle models is the funnel shape, a visual analogy to a process that begins with a large pool of candidates, narrows to a group of interested prospects, and narrows again to those who purchase. The funnel model is useful in managing a “sales pipeline.” Defining a series of steps in the sales process creates opportunities for setting goals, tracking performance, and analyzing effectiveness, which makes forecasting more reliable and enables improvement of the process.
An update to the sales-cycle model frames stages in the process as goals the seller has for customer thinking, adds actions the seller may take to achieve those goals, and measures its effectiveness. This model also adds a stage for customer feedback, important for product improvement and innovation.
Related to the sales-cycle model are models of decision making and technology adoption. Rogers[ 1] articulates a five-step innovation decision process:
1. Knowledge
2. Persuasion
3. Decision
[ 1] Rogers, E. M. Diffusion of Innovation. New York: The Free Press, 1995.
May + June 2008
4. Implementation 5. Confirmation
References:
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