Understanding the Solution Stage: Your Key to Unlocking Sales
In my journey from high-value sales to web marketing, I discovered a crucial insight: the solution stage is a game-changer. It’s that pivotal moment when buyers know they have a problem but haven’t settled on how to solve it. This is where your expertise shines and is needed most.
If you get traffic but no action, the solution stage often illuminates your visitors’ needs.
Identifying the Solution Stage
The solution stage is everywhere, and every topic has one. It’s in the ambiguous umbrella terms buyers use when searching for answers, such as “digital marketing” or “business development.”
These words they use represent unmade decisions and signal that buyers need guidance on the specific type of solution they should pursue.
Category or Umbrella words
Umbrella terms are not interchangeable with specific words. They represent a different buyer’s journey stage and require a different approach. Buyers at this stage know their problems are worth solving and intend to take action but are still exploring options.
Think of it like this: they want to “hang a picture”, but they haven’t yet decided whether to buy a drill for a quarter-inch hole or simply use a nail instead. They’re looking for guidance on the best way to achieve their goal.
This is where the “jobs to be done” framework and thought leadership content fit into the overall decision-making timeline.
Identifying the Solution Stage Buyer.
In search marketing, (as an example) visitors identify themselves when using solution-stage terms. However, this stage exists in prospects’ minds, whether they are searching or not. Signs to look for include:
- Broad, non-specific search terms related to your industry
- Indecision and reluctance to engage
By recognising these signs and understanding the language used, you can tailor your content and messaging to more effectively address their needs. Talk about how to choose.
Indirect Competition and Positioning
During the solution stage, buyers are weighing different approaches, such as:
- Your solution vs doing nothing
- Recruitment vs Freelance vs Agency
- Hire vs Buy
This stage is a golden opportunity to differentiate yourself, as buyers are more receptive to new ideas. Innovative solutions and insights do well before people pursue a specific service or product.
Guiding Buyers to the Right Solution
Having the Right Conversations
Solution sales, especially early on when buyers are unsure about how to solve their problems, is a sophisticated approach that many businesses overlook. It can increase the overall conversion rate of a site, as every topic can have a solutions stage.
By presenting a balanced view of pros and cons and positioning yourself as an authority, you help buyers navigate complex decisions and establish trust, influencing their choices before they directly compare you to competitors.
Why the Solution Stage Matters in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is becoming increasingly challenging due to overcrowded platforms and less effective traditional tactics. By focusing on the often-ignored solution stage, businesses can tackle these problems head-on.
Earlier-stage visitors are more likely to talk to you if you present them with stage-appropriate content; they will travel more of the decision journey in your company.
Engaging buyers at the solution stage allows you to:
- Grab their attention before they get lost in the noise of a crowded market
- Set yourself apart by focusing upstream on how your approach uniquely solves their problems
- Differentiate yourself by highlighting how your solution specifically addresses their needs
Have the Right Conversations
Engaging in solution sales, especially early on when buyers are unsure about how to solve their problems, is a sophisticated approach that many businesses overlook. It can increase the overall conversion rate of the site as every topic can have a solutions stage.
We once tripled the number of leads from a piece of content just by moving out of the blog and putting it next to the sales content. It was called the types of data capture, helping people choose between different ways of solving the problem.
By presenting a balanced view of the pros and cons and positioning yourself as an authority, you can help buyers navigate complex decisions and establish trust.
The solution stage allows you to influence their choices before they directly compare you to competitors.
Seize the Opportunity
Embracing the solution stage is a significant opportunity. By engaging buyers early, being purposefully different, and focusing on solution sales, you can overcome the problems of a crowded market, less effective platforms, and blending in with the competition.
Connecting with buyers before your competitors and shaping their decision-making process puts you in a strong position.
Being Honest About Marketing Problems
Because problems lead to the solution stage.
The current landscape makes it challenging to succeed.
An introduction to the problems and how we can overcome them
Economic trends
The economy, the sudden influx of people needing to ‘do more marketing’. People who never bothered before are now joining the fray.
Platforms are performing a lot worse
Partly because of these trends, the enshittification of platforms means Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn are all delivering less value just when everyone needs more.
As a result, you can’t just put your products on the internet and expect to win customers anymore.
The tragedy of the commons
One of the core issues marketers face is the tragedy of the commons. It has always been like this—marketing channels stop working well when everyone else does them, too.
Blogs, for instance, used to be an effective channel before there was enough content on the Internet to oversaturate the space. Their effectiveness diminished as more businesses jumped on the bandwagon.
We face a similar situation with keywords, a double whammy with the economic flatness speeding up the competitive curve.
Lack of Differentiation
The real problem arises when you look just like your competition.
Using the same old technology, saying the same things, and failing to differentiate is a major pitfall.
After all, competition destroys value. This is a fundamental principle in Marketing 101. All the marketing strategy books emphasise this point: Doing what everyone else has done will only lead to diminishing returns.
No Solution Sales
This is the biggest opportunity, particularly given the more ambiguous nature of the Google Search Ad platform, delivering us more early-stage clicks.
The messaging course “The five lightbulbs” by Billy Broas is an excellent way to reflect on the journey and how to position your solution against ‘all the other ways they have tried’.
