Five-Stage Model of the Consumer Buying Process

  Using the five-stage model of the consumer buying process as your guide, please describe how a first-time consumer would utilize a product or service that is currently offered by your place of employment (Accounting Firm). Please describe each stage and the factors contained within each stage and how they influence the consumer. Your answer should be at least (2 pages). I’ve included an abbreviated example below; your answer should be more detailed and meet the minimum length requirement. Example: if I had a toothache, but had never been to a dentist, I would pass through the stages in such a manor: Problem recognition: I suddenly had a pain in one of my molars after eating dinner. I’ve never had a problem with any of my teeth as I always take great care to brush and floss regularly. The pain has caused me great concern, and I know that I need to see a dentist. Since I’ve never had a problem before, I must start to look for information on dentists to help me solve this problem. Information search: Since I’m very close with my family, I value their opinion very much and often turn to them for advice when making a large or important purchase decision or to help with something that I don’t have experience with. However, no one in my family has ever had a problem with their teeth as they all have excellent dental health. Where else could I turn for information? (I would describe the process here) Evaluation of alternatives: After gathering information from various sources, I now have a great deal of knowledge to help me select a dentist from the information I’ve gathered. Since it is my first time to the dentist, I may want to consider which factors are important to me. For example, does the dentist specialize in patients who are on their first visit, do they provide anesthesia, how long have they been in business, what type of reviews do they have? Each person may evaluate the alternatives differently and according to their own personal factors. Purchase decision: I now have sufficient knowledge to make my purchase decision. I have already evaluated the alternatives on important factors to me and am ready to make the appointment and go to the dentist. Since I’m in pain, the dentist has agreed to see me immediately, which was one factor in making my purchase decision. Post-purchase behavior/evaluation: Now that I have used the service and the dentist has repaired a cavity that they found, I can now evaluate my experience and possibly share my experience with my family and maybe even on social media to let people know of my experience.