A Path to Purchase is the chain that connects what a company makes to a purchase of what you do. For a shop that sells a process (coating, molding, machining, fabrication, assembly), it is the most useful way to decide whether a visitor is worth a rep’s time.
The five links
- They make an end product. Read it from their product pages, not an industry code.
- Which contains a component: a housing, cap, bracket, frame or sub-assembly.
- Which needs a process: a finish, a molded part, a machined part, a weldment, an assembly.
- That you can do within your materials, size, tolerance, volume and certifications.
- Ordered by someone you can reach. Often the brand specifies and a supplier places the order.
If every link holds, there is a path. If a link breaks, you know exactly where and why.
Initiate, Investigate or Ignore
SiteSonar’s agent investigates every company that shows a signal and gives a verdict.
Initiate means a specific part is named and it matches an application you serve, even if the part is inferred from their products. Investigate means there may be a path nobody can see yet, so a person should dig in. Ignore means a link broke early.
A named part with a matching application is a path. “Probably” without a part is a question.
Then read the signal
A verdict tells you whether there is a purchase to win. The signal tells you when to step in, based on what the visitor actually did:
- Echo: light research. Send the matching application page.
- Contact: evaluating. Reply with an expert answer this week.
- Lock: converted or about to, through your quote page, an RFQ or RFI, a sample request or a call. Call today.
Careers-page visits, students and vendors are Noise: not buyers at all.
Purchases start with a conversation
Every purchase starts with a conversation, and every conversation starts with a conversion. For a job shop that conversion is usually an RFQ with drawings. For a component maker it might be an “ask an engineer” form or a sample request. For a catalog seller, a cart or an account application. Know which conversions you offer, and the path tells you who is about to use them.
Three examples
- A spirits brand → plastic closure → metallized decorative finish → a vacuum metallizer. The brand specifies; the closure supplier orders.
- A test instrument maker → plastic housings → conductive EMI coating → a shielding shop.
- A cobot maker → end-effector brackets → CNC machined aluminum → a machine shop.
How to use it on Monday
- Write down the end products and parts your work goes into, not only the industries you serve.
- Add brand owners and their suppliers as buyer types.
- For every new lead, write the chain in one line. If you can’t, it’s an Investigate: ask one question.
- Match what you send to the signal, not to the size of the company.