I always wondered, even before I started applying Lean Marketing Principles , why the marketing process rarely considered what stages a customer went through to buy their product or service. Customer usually have a fairly regimented way they conduct business and a very structured purchasing pattern. Most will even tell you and the fact of the matter is, that your sales people already probably know it. Document that process, even create a sales funnel or hour glass on this process. If you do this, it will create an entire different way of looking at your marketing. From the customers point of view!