Buyer Commitment Mapper
A buyer doesn't move from "stranger" to "signed" in one step — they climb a ladder of increasingly specific internal commitments. Content, CTAs, and discovery questions only work if they're built for the specific rung the buyer is actually standing on.
Inputs to gather
Required:
- An inventory of existing content/assets — titles and one-line descriptions are enough, doesn't need to be a formal spreadsheet
Helpful, not blocking:
- Current conversion or funnel data by stage, if tracked
- Target persona definitions (who's supposed to be reading/watching this)
- The specific CTAs in use on key pages
If none of this is available: ask for whatever exists — a content calendar export, a list of blog URLs, or even just "what have you published in the last quarter?" Partial visibility is enough to start finding the gaps.
The six-stage arc (three phases)
| Phase |
Stage |
The buyer is silently asking |
Your job at this stage |
| Recognize |
1. Problem Surfacing |
"Is this actually a problem worth solving?" |
Make the cost of the status quo visible and specific |
|
2. Priority Commitment |
"Is this worth fixing now, above our other priorities?" |
Justify urgency against their competing priorities |
| Explore |
3. Approach Exploration |
"What kinds of solutions even exist for this?" |
Educate on solution categories — not your product yet |
|
4. Approach Commitment |
"Which kind of solution fits how we work?" |
Shape the selection criteria in your favour |
| Decide |
5. Business-Case Lock |
"Can I defend this choice internally?" |
Arm your internal champion — ROI, proof, references |
|
6. Vendor Decision |
"Which vendor, and on what terms?" |
Differentiate and de-risk the final choice |
For each persona, map three layers against these six stages:
- Interaction — human-led (sales, events) vs. non-human (web, content, product-led) at this stage
- Content — the asset type and channel that actually fits this stage
- Engagement — is this persona even present at this stage, and with how much authority (decision-maker down to no influence)?
The core rule
Every content asset and every CTA gets assigned to exactly one stage. If you can't say which of the six stages a piece of content serves, it's decorative — it exists, but it isn't doing a job. Cut it or assign it.
The same discipline applies to sales discovery: the first job in a discovery call is locating which of the six stages the buyer is actually in — not the stage your sales process assumes they're in. A rep pitching Stage 5 proof points to a Stage 1 buyer (who hasn't even committed the problem is worth fixing) is solving the wrong problem.
How to apply it
- Inventory what exists — every content asset, CTA, and discovery question in scope.
- Assign each to one of the six stages. Anything that can't be assigned is flagged as decorative.
- Find the gaps — which stages have no content at all? (Stage 1–2 gaps are the most common and the most expensive to leave open — you can't sell to a buyer who never committed the problem was worth fixing.)
- For discovery: build questions that diagnose which stage the buyer is in before qualifying on anything else.
Output format
- Stage-by-stage inventory — what exists, what's missing, per stage
- Decorative-content flag list — assets with no assignable stage
- Gap priority — which missing stage to fill first (usually the earliest gap in the arc, since later-stage content can't compensate for an unaddressed earlier stage)
Skill 3 of 6 diagnostic skills in the GTM Skills collection by Christopher Swarup — GTM Ops leader, 15+ years in RevOps/MOPS across Finastra, Equinix, Nutanix, Pleo, Contentsquare and DevRev.
1---2name: buyer-commitment-mapper3description: Map content, CTAs, and sales discovery questions to the specific stage of buyer commitment they serve, using a six-stage arc across three phases (Recognize, Explore, Decide). Use whenever a user is planning a content calendar, auditing a website or nurture flow, building sales discovery questions, or asks why "good content" isn't converting. Trigger this whenever content or a CTA is proposed without a stated buying stage — an asset with no assigned stage is decorative, not functional, and this skill exists to catch that before budget is spent producing it.4---56# Buyer Commitment Mapper78A buyer doesn't move from "stranger" to "signed" in one step — they climb a ladder of increasingly specific internal commitments. Content, CTAs, and discovery questions only work if they're built for the specific rung the buyer is actually standing on.910## Inputs to gather1112**Required:**13- An inventory of existing content/assets — titles and one-line descriptions are enough, doesn't need to be a formal spreadsheet1415**Helpful, not blocking:**16- Current conversion or funnel data by stage, if tracked17- Target persona definitions (who's supposed to be reading/watching this)18- The specific CTAs in use on key pages1920**If none of this is available:** ask for whatever exists — a content calendar export, a list of blog URLs, or even just "what have you published in the last quarter?" Partial visibility is enough to start finding the gaps.2122## The six-stage arc (three phases)2324| Phase | Stage | The buyer is silently asking | Your job at this stage |25|---|---|---|---|26| **Recognize** | 1. Problem Surfacing | "Is this actually a problem worth solving?" | Make the cost of the status quo visible and specific |27| | 2. Priority Commitment | "Is this worth fixing *now*, above our other priorities?" | Justify urgency against their competing priorities |28| **Explore** | 3. Approach Exploration | "What kinds of solutions even exist for this?" | Educate on solution categories — not your product yet |29| | 4. Approach Commitment | "Which *kind* of solution fits how we work?" | Shape the selection criteria in your favour |30| **Decide** | 5. Business-Case Lock | "Can I defend this choice internally?" | Arm your internal champion — ROI, proof, references |31| | 6. Vendor Decision | "Which vendor, and on what terms?" | Differentiate and de-risk the final choice |3233For each persona, map three layers against these six stages:34- **Interaction** — human-led (sales, events) vs. non-human (web, content, product-led) at this stage35- **Content** — the asset type and channel that actually fits this stage36- **Engagement** — is this persona even present at this stage, and with how much authority (decision-maker down to no influence)?3738## The core rule3940**Every content asset and every CTA gets assigned to exactly one stage.** If you can't say which of the six stages a piece of content serves, it's decorative — it exists, but it isn't doing a job. Cut it or assign it.4142The same discipline applies to sales discovery: the first job in a discovery call is locating which of the six stages the buyer is *actually* in — not the stage your sales process assumes they're in. A rep pitching Stage 5 proof points to a Stage 1 buyer (who hasn't even committed the problem is worth fixing) is solving the wrong problem.4344## How to apply it45461. **Inventory what exists** — every content asset, CTA, and discovery question in scope.472. **Assign each to one of the six stages.** Anything that can't be assigned is flagged as decorative.483. **Find the gaps** — which stages have no content at all? (Stage 1–2 gaps are the most common and the most expensive to leave open — you can't sell to a buyer who never committed the problem was worth fixing.)494. **For discovery:** build questions that diagnose *which stage* the buyer is in before qualifying on anything else.5051## Output format5253- **Stage-by-stage inventory** — what exists, what's missing, per stage54- **Decorative-content flag list** — assets with no assignable stage55- **Gap priority** — which missing stage to fill first (usually the earliest gap in the arc, since later-stage content can't compensate for an unaddressed earlier stage)5657---58*Skill 3 of 6 diagnostic skills in the [GTM Skills collection](../../README.md) by [Christopher Swarup](https://github.com/christopherswarup) — GTM Ops leader, 15+ years in RevOps/MOPS across Finastra, Equinix, Nutanix, Pleo, Contentsquare and DevRev.*
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