, can you map out the steps your customers go through when shopping in person?
It may look like this:
1. They drive past your store a few times.
2. A friend tells them about you.
3. They finally come in.
4. They walk around the showroom.
5. They touch the products.
6. They ask a few questions.
7. You explain why the $8,000 option costs more than the $5,000 one.
8. They go home to think about it.
9. Maybe they call with another question.
10. They come back with their spouse.
11. And eventually, they buy.
Maybe you've never called this a customer journey.
But you've been guiding people through one for years.
Now here's the harder question:
Can you map out that same journey for someone 1,000 miles away?
Someone who's never driven past your store.
Never heard your name from a local friend.
Never met you.
Never touched your products.
And may never set foot inside your showroom.
How do you sell to that person?
That's the journey you need to understand if you want to sell high-ticket products beyond your local market.
I break the online buying journey into six stages and we follow one customer who's considering a $4,000 pizza oven through every one of them.
You'll see what she's thinking at each stage.
What she needs from you.
Where uncertainty starts creeping in.
And what your website and marketing can do to help her take the next step.
Because a pretty website isn't the same as a sales process
This is something I see often with established retailers.
You've spent years building a reputation in your local market.
People know your family.
They know your store.
They trust your advice.
That reputation makes selling a $5,000 or $10,000 product easier.
But when you start selling nationally, you leave that advantage behind.
Now your website, content, reviews, emails, product pages, advertising and follow-up have to do the work that your reputation, showroom and salespeople used to do.
And that doesn't happen just because the website looks good.
It has to be designed as a journey.
And that's how a business that's already trusted locally can start earning the confidence of customers nationally — or even globally.
You’ve already done the hard work of earning trust locally. I hope this helps you start carrying that trust further.
— Dorit
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