Buyer Personas summary

Next time you’re at the supermarket, look around and see if you can identify what the patrons are using to evaluate products. Different customers have different criteria. For example, when selecting eggs, some customers will search for organic eggs, while others just want the cheapest ones they can find.

If you are an egg producer, you need to understand why different customers behave the way they do, in order to fulfill their needs and create product messaging that resonates with them.

People often prefer the known to the unknown. And usually, they don’t like to venture outside their comfort zone. It’s no surprise, then, that you’re likely to run into resistance from stakeholders when you want to try new things in the marketing department. This is equally true when it comes to building buyer personas for your product.

Internal stakeholders, such as management and shareholders, each have their own reasons for rejecting buyer personas. Some think the project will be a cumbersome time sink, and that the resources invested in identifying the personas will never be recouped.

Once you’ve gotten the internal stakeholder onboard, you need to actually create the buyer personas. This work begins with setting up interviews with potential customers. But how should you reach out to them?

First, you need to find your customers, and that will require the help of your sales team.

The key to learning the most from interviewees is to spend more time listening and less time speaking. Ask your question, and then get out of the way.

In a buyer persona interview, the only question you need to prepare for and think about beforehand is the very first question you ask. Ultimately, your first question will be about the first time the interviewee realized that he faced a problem that required him to seek out a new solution.

There is an old Egyptian saying that goes like this: “Do you know so and so? Yes. Did you hobnob with him? No. Well, then you don’t know him.” The same applies to your buyers. You can’t presume to know them if you never talk to them.

To understand buyers’ behavior, you have to talk to them and uncover the Five Rings of Buying Insights. Doing this will tell you everything you need to know about your buyers’ decisions.

So, after gathering the data, what’s next? Now comes the careful analysis. Remember: you aren’t just looking for data that confirms what you already believe. Rather, you want to stay as objective as possible in order to discover what the customer truly needs.

So where do you start?

“We have the best solution.” “We’re the cheapest.” “ Our solution will save you money.” Do these kinds of messages inspire you to buy? It’s more than likely that these are the kinds of messages that you completely ignore. This is because the messages don’t speak to you and your unique concerns.

With the results of your interviews, you are now equipped to address your buyers’ unique, primary concerns.