According to recent data from research and consulting firm Gartner, the average buyer is already more than 80% through the buying process before contacting sales. Even more telling, 75% of all buyers say they prefer a seller-free buying experience. Yet many companies still cling to outdated tactics in which they withhold crucial information to force visitors to contact them.

The result? Buyer frustration, missed opportunities for businesses, and a trust gap that's hard to bridge.

As a head coach at Buzzlytics, I've experienced firsthand how powerful transparency and self-service tools can be for our clients. I've guided several companies through the implementation of the They Ask, You Answer methodology, seeing time and again how effective it is to be radically open and transparent.

Over the years, I have seen that the biggest barrier to success is not technical, but psychological. The fear of being transparent about pricing, of offering choices without vendor intervention, and of letting go of control. But I have also seen how liberating and profitable it can be when companies do take this step.

In this article, I show you why self-service tools are no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have for any website. I explain how buyers want to buy today and why traditional sales models no longer work. You'll learn about different types of self-service tools - from pricing estimators to configurators - and why they are so effective.

I share concrete results you can expect (such as an average 300% increase in leads with a properly implemented pricing tool) and help you overcome the most common objections. After reading this article, you'll not only understand why self-service tools are crucial, but you'll also be ready to implement them on your own website.

This article is based on an episode of the StoryBrand podcast with Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask, You Answer. StoryBrand Netherlands is the sister company of Buzzlytics. Watch the interview below. Prefer to listen? Find the link to this episode on your favorite podcast platform on the StoryBrand website.

Your challenge as a business is to make sure you win that crucial first 80% of the buying process.

In today's digital age, there is a fundamental shift in how customers make purchases. According to Marcus Sheridan, the modern buyer is already more than 80% through the buying process before contacting sales. This means that most of the decision has already been made before a conversation with a salesperson takes place.

This shift has major implications for how businesses should set up their Web sites. If potential customers are doing their own research before contacting you, your website needs to provide them with all the information they need to make an informed decision. And that's exactly where self-service tools come in.

Your challenge as a business is to make sure you win that crucial first 80% of the buying process. "You have to make sure that when they are learning and gathering information, you are the one feeding them with that information," Sheridan said. By offering self-service tools, you enable buyers to conduct their research on their own terms, which increases their trust in your company.

An even more telling statistic from research and consulting firm Gartner: 75% of all buyers say they prefer a seller-free buying experience. This does not mean that people hate salespeople, but that they want to decide for themselves when they are ready to talk to a salesperson.

"People only want to talk to a salesperson when they are ready, when they feel comfortable, when they feel confident in their choice and when they feel they are not going to make a mistake," Sheridan explains. Self-service tools meet this need by giving buyers the control they seek.

By implementing tools that allow visitors to find answers, make comparisons and even get price estimates on their own, you give them the power to take control of the sales process. This not only results in more satisfied customers, but also in higher-quality leads when they do eventually contact you.

According to Sheridan, price is always the first and last question in the buying process. "The first question people have when they start the buying process is: how expensive is this? Or: is this within my budget at all?" he explains. That's why price transparency is one of the most effective ways to build trust.

Sheridan identifies five levels of price transparency on your website:

Level 0: The bait-and-switch level. You have a pricing tab on your Web site, but when visitors click on it, they are only asked to fill out a form to receive pricing information. This only generates frustration.

Level 1: A pricing page that clearly explains what factors influence price. You explain what drives up costs, what lowers them, why some companies are more expensive than others, and roughly where your company is on that spectrum.

Level 2: Same as Level 1, but in video format. Video is more powerful because it visually shows what influences price. "Seeing is believing," Sheridan said.

Level 3: An interactive price calculator on your website. Visitors can answer questions that a salesperson would normally ask, and get a price estimate based on them.

Level 4: An exact quote tool. This is not for every business, especially if there are many variables that affect price.

Most companies stop at level 0 or don't even get there at all. But it is precisely the higher levels of price transparency that build trust and help potential customers further in the buying process.

Companies that put a pricing estimator on their homepage see an average 300% increase in leads.

Of all the self-service tools, Sheridan says the pricing estimator is one of the most effective. Why? Because it responds directly to that very first question from the buyer: "How much is this going to cost me?"

A good pricing estimator:

1. Asks questions a salesperson would normally ask as well
2. Provides realistic pricing based on the answers
3. Offer visitors control over the process
4. Removes barriers that prevent someone from moving forward in the buying process

"The pricing estimator answers the most fundamental question buyers have once someone begins the buying process," Sheridan explains. "To know whether it makes sense to continue their research, they need to know if the solution they are exploring is within their budget at all."

The results of implementing a pricing estimator can be amazing. According to Sheridan, companies that place a pricing estimator on their homepage see an average 300% increase in leads.

This impressive increase comes from giving visitors something the competition doesn't offer: transparency and control. By offering a tool that answers the question every potential customer has, you instantly differentiate yourself in a market where most companies are actually withholding this information.

Besides pricing estimators, there are other self-service tools you can use to help visitors make a buying decision. Recommendation tools, also known as self-selection tools, help visitors find the right product or service based on their needs.

These tools ask targeted questions to visitors and then make recommendations based on their answers. The benefit is that visitors get a personalized experience without a salesperson. What's more, you gather valuable information about your visitors that can come in handy later in the sales process.

By offering a tool that answers the question every potential customer has, you instantly differentiate yourself in a market where most companies actually withhold this information.

Assessment tools go a step further by giving visitors a score or rating based on their responses. Consider a readiness score that indicates how ready someone is for a particular solution, or a tool that assesses a company's maturity in a particular area.

"You want to have assessment tools, also called self-assessment tools, that essentially give you a score and tell you a readiness score or something like that," Sheridan explains. These tools are not only valuable to visitors, but also give you as a company insight into the maturity of leads.

Configurators allow visitors to put together their own product or service. Think of a car configurator that lets you choose different options, or a package configurator that helps you select the right service combination.

"A configurator allows you to build the thing you're considering buying," Sheridan said. Whether it's a physical product or a service, a configurator gives visitors control over the purchase process and helps them envision the end result.

Finally, scheduling tools are essential for easing the transition from research to contact. These tools allow visitors to schedule an appointment on their own, without emailing or calling back and forth.

"You want to have scheduling tools that allow people to schedule time with your company, and even choose which vendor they want to work with," Sheridan says. This not only gives visitors control over when they interact, but with whom.

The common thread with all these tools is that they give the buyer control. "Buyers want control; they want to choose their own adventure," Sheridan emphasizes. By offering various self-service tools, you empower them to do just that.

One of the most common objections to implementing self-service tools, especially when it comes to price transparency, is, "Every project is different, we have a highly customized solution."

Sheridan calls this "the easiest one to tackle online." The solution? Explain what factors affect price, exactly as you would in a sales call. Talk about what drives up costs, what lowers them, why some companies are more expensive than others, and where your company falls roughly on that spectrum.

This approach allows you to define what value means in your industry. "If you don't define value, someone else will," warns Sheridan. By being transparent about how complexity affects price, you can actually demonstrate your expertise.

Another common objection is the fear of competitors gaining access to pricing information. Sheridan calls this a "completely ridiculous" fear and asks a simple question, "Do you have a reasonably good idea of what your competitors charge?" The answer is usually yes.

"If you have a pretty good idea of what they charge, that means they have a pretty good idea of what you charge," he explains. "This is the big secret non-secret; everyone pretends that no one knows what everyone else is charging, when in reality everyone has a pretty good idea of what everyone else is charging."

The real reason companies don't want to share their prices is often fear. But by being transparent about prices, you actually gain the trust of potential customers and differentiate yourself from competitors who withhold this information.

Many companies lack the courage to do something that hasn't been done before in their industry.

The bottom line is that many companies lack the courage to do things differently than they have always done. Sheridan sees this as a fundamental problem: "I think a lot of leaders lack courage. They're just not brave. They don't want to do anything that hasn't been done before in their industry."

To be truly successful with self-service tools, you must be willing to innovate and break the rules. "Disruption is everywhere, the opportunities for disruption are everywhere," Sheridan says. "Most companies don't think this way."

The companies that make the most impact are those that are willing to be vulnerable, transparent and provide an excellent user experience, even if that means deviating from what is common in their industry.

"When you break the rules in an industry, the market responds with 'wow,'" Sheridan explains. "If you're smart, they say, 'I like that, I want that.'" Today's leaders may complain that you can't do this, but ultimately the market wins, and thus the one who breaks the rules.

The way people buy has fundamentally changed. The modern buyer wants control, transparency and speed. By putting self-service tools on your website - whether pricing estimators, configurators, assessment tools or planning tools - you're giving them exactly what they're looking for.

The result? More trust, more conversions and a better customer experience. As the numbers show: companies that properly implement a pricing estimator, for example, see an average 300% increase in leads. These are not small changes, but transformative results that can make the difference between growing or being left behind in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Of course, implementing self-service tools requires a different mindset. It requires the courage to break old patterns and rewrite the rules of your industry. But as we have seen, the greatest successes in business often follow from daring to take steps that others are afraid to take.

As a business, you have a choice: stick with old sales techniques that are becoming less and less effective, or give control back to your customers using self-service tools. By doing the latter, you not only position yourself as a forerunner in your industry, but also build a relationship of trust that leads to long-term customer success.

Do you want this too? Then our marketing and sales program might be for you. Schedule a call with me or one of my colleagues and find out how we can help you better connect your marketing and sales activities to today's buyer.