There’s a maxim in the business world that I’ve always abided by: consumers will buy when they’re ready. This is what makes search engines like Google so powerful: when consumers have the inclination to purchase something, they go online and check it out.

Take my own situation on whether or not to purchase a new car. I know the types, the gas mileage and the price I am willing to pay. I can find all the cars in my vicinity that meet the criteria—and have also searched around the country for the best prices when bargaining. However, I have yet to pull the trigger because, I’m just not ready.

As powerful as online searches are, they can’t determine when someone is ready to buy. Case in point, I have spoken to my dentist a few times about using our solutions, and every time he comes up with some excuse not to use them. But, recently I received a call from him (after another company contacted him about similar online presence solutions), and suddenly, he wanted help managing local listings and increasing web traffic for his clinic to reach new customers.

Even though I had offered him the same service multiple times, he didn’t reach out to me until he was ready buy. As many of our partners go out and promote digital solutions, one of the hardest things to know is when someone is ready to buy. I was fortunate enough that when my dentist was ready, he remembered my pitch and still had the digital Snapshot audit I provided him, which contained my contact information.

As I got busy handling other initiatives and dealing with other opportunities, I forgot to go back and check up on how he was doing. This story is one of so many account executives: we spend most of our time looking at what’s next and forget what already was. It’s more important today than ever for agencies to stay top of mind, whether by email, phone calls or social media.

Marketing automation tools such as Vendasta’s 10X campaigns help with staying in touch with clients and prospects, while surfacing those with a propensity to buy digital products. The new Wild West requires resilience, intelligence and some pure marketing genius.

Marketing automation solutions provide sales teams with ammunition that indicate when potential customers are ready to buy.

To learn more about marketing automation, check out Vendasta’s 10X Platform.