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What a Buyer Persona is Really for.

Have you ever discarded the notion of trying something out just because you thought it was not going to work?

I can tell you that was my way of life, for years.

Lately I have realized the many of the concepts, notions, and ideas I discarded beforehand were, in many cases, the right way to go but I was reluctant to admit.

The fact is I knew little about them and was unwilling to invest time and money to start learning or find someone who could teach me.

It was much easier to call the whole thing a fad and put it behind me.

Examples in my history of this:

1.      Using a CRM tool 5 minutes a day to drive opportunities.

2.      Relying in Technical Analysis for investing.

3.      Building Buyer Personas before creating offers.

In this article I am going to talk about point number 3, but if you want to discuss any of the other bullet points send me a private message and we will have a talk.

Having an accurate, useful buyer persona is a bit like Big Foot, many have talked about it but very few have ever seen it.

I learned the “buyer persona” concept many years ago and after a quick revie I promptly decided it was useless.

Coming up with an avatar, with a made-up name that gathered the characteristics of the ideal buyer just sounded too farfetched and too difficult to accomplish.

In addition, the notion that a person could be precisely described through a model, conflicted with the idea I had that individuals are unique, original, authentic, and hence would not fit into a simple representation.

So I threw the idea out to the dumpster and moved on.

I took a second look at the concept three years ago when I did the ASK Method Masterclass, which is the method we follow in SellNow Inc. for researching, segmenting, and launching marketing campaigns.

Ryan Levesque, the creator of the course tells a story about how he was looking for a product to create and promote and identified that the market for people who liked gardening and where into orchids was just ripe.

Through his method he identified three or four different categories of people who wanted information to take better care of the orchids.

Some of those people had purchased the orchid and were having problems with making it bloom again.

Some others had received it as a gift and were struggling to keep it alive and they wanted to show the person who had given it to them, they were taking good care of it.

The story that I remember the most was one of a senior gentleman who was looking for information on how to take care of an orchid because his wife had recently passed away and she had some orchids she used to look after.

Through the story, I could see with the eye of my mind an elderly gentleman (I called him Joe), and I could see him alone in a house that all the sudden had become too big for just him.

I could also see him, in the kitchen, sitting on a stool while the morning light came through the window, thinking about the day ahead.

Still unsure about what to do he decides to leave the house, as it is just too painful to stay in. He opens the door to walk out the house and as he crosses the doorway, his gaze lands on the orchids that his wife used to take care of.

He sees them and realizes that without her they are not going to last.

He even remembers how his wife used to talk to them, water them, get rid of the bugs and cut the weeds that could harm them.

He used to make fun of her, “you love those plants more than you do me.” He would say.

The beloved orchids, of his beloved wife.

There is simply no way he is going to let those beautiful flowers wither and die.

He starts looking for information on how to start taking care of them. His wife was a pro, but he is just learning about this stuff.

He looks for books, gardening magazines and articles about orchid care, but he is not really finding what he needs.

He decides to take a look on the Internet and finds Ryan’s course on Orchid Care and the description addresses his concerns and shows the end result he is looking for.

The outcome he wants is very tangible: A live, healthy, glowing orchid that keeps reblooming.

He expects to have a healthy flower that makes him feel proud of protecting and taking care of something that was important to his wife and maybe, if she is still watching, get a chance to make her happy one last time.

As you have probably identified by now, Joe is a buyer persona and by including his specific characteristics we can have a clearer picture about his pain, desire, and expected outcome.

This image should guide the product development efforts and messaging around it.

Empathy is key and in this case it means you do not want to give old Joe just anything, you want him to get exactly what he needs to get to his desired outcome.

The thing is, he must discover it by himself.

Joe needs to look at the cover of the book, read the description and read the comments of others to know that this book is what he has been after, all along.

Marketing is about helping people get to the feeling they want through the right product, language, and references.

The problem with words like “Segmentation” and “Buyer Persona” is that they are too cold.

I hear them and I immediately think of a group of people in a sterile, white room answering boring questions as three people in white lab coats study their reactions, behind a double-side mirror.

Creepy.

But if instead of using big words like Segmentation, we just:

1)     Try to think of a group of people that we would like to interact with.

2)     Identify a specific problem a smaller number of people on that group are having.

3)     Find out what their ideal outcome is.

Then the whole thing does not sound so “academic”.

Looking back at why I rejected the Buyer Persona notion right away, all those years ago had to do with a few things:

a)      I did not know where to start.

b)     I thought I had to get it right the first time around.

c)      I felt that if I got it wrong colleagues would think less of me.

Now that I am taking a second look at the concept, I am letting three things drive me:

1)     It is worth it:

In the end the promise of having the right buyer persona is being able to identify who will be a great client. Those that will make it fun to get out of bed in the morning so we can tackle an important concern or problem they are facing.

2)     It is doable:

More and more organizations are getting their buyer personas right so why couldn’t I do it too?

3)     It is a work in progress:

It is not a tricky right or wrong question. It is a process and it should be fun.

Defining a Buyer Persona - The Fun Way:

As per the ASK Method: People do not know what they want.

Henry Ford said it best, “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

The two things people do know are:

1)     What they do not want.

2)     The results they got after doing something.

So, let’s use Ford’s example to put them to the test.

What did people not want?

I will go on a limb here, but I am guessing people needed horses for transportation but probably did not want many of them.

Horses need open spaces, food, grooming, exercise, instruction, medicines, attention, etc.  

In addition, people needed to learn to ride and communicate to horses, develop a bond sort of speak.

In any case the horse is always in control and if it gets scared or injured the person riding on its back can get hurt or even killed.

Finally, it was a time when cities were growing so I guess horses were becoming more inconvenient to have.

What past experiences did people have with horses?

Have you ever ridden a horse and suddenly it started going really fast regardless of your screams, shouts and begging? Did you think you would be just fine at that moment?

Hanging on for dear life while hoping for your transport to come to a stop and not dying in the process is not what you would call "great user experience". agree?

On the other hand, even if the horse was the most trustworthy animal ever, you could not take it for long distances over a single day.

You needed to find a place to get it some rest, food and water.

If it broke a leg it was highly likely you needed to put it down.

We now suffer when our dog cut its paw on a protruding nail in the chair (true story). Imagine having to kill your favorite horse because it broke its leg taking you to the mall.

In addition, both horse and rider suffered weather conditions equally, if it rained both got wet and probably sick, if it was scorching hot both would get dehydrated, you see where I am going with this?

I have never owned a horse but I guess if you have one (or many) you see them as amazing, intelligent creatures to bond and have a great time with.

You, however, are probably not considering riding it for 200 miles in whatever weather conditions happen to be outside, just to visit some relatives that live out of state, are you?.

I think you can start making a good case for a machine you control and operate, as the perfect replacement for horses as a means of transportation, right?

Henry Ford only needed to communicate the benefits of the car to the right audience and his buyer persona would probably have been rich, urban men who valued status, technology and convenience (they would probably have bought an iphone 12 to go with the car, too).

Sounds like a Richard or a George to me.

Are we having fun yet?

SellNow Inc. is Looking for a BFF.

I was going to share with you the buyer persona exercise for SellNow Inc. but it was over a page long and I decided to spare you the pain.

The bottom line is SellNow Inc. and the team are looking for the next great client.

Our first attempt at defining our buyer persona is a young, yet experienced Sales and Marketing director or business owner who:

·        Understands the current challenges of competing in the digital landscape.

·        Knows the power of digital channels for brand awareness and lead generation.

·        Feels frustrated as they are not being able to execute effectively on the sales strategy.

·        Wishes they could improve their sales collateral in a planned, structured way.

·        Wants to understand their customer journey and articulate a better experience.

I think there is no worse feeling than knowing what needs to be done and not finding the way to get it done. It is real frustrating.

SellNow Inc. can help there.

So, if you have a complex offer that needs to be explained, if you face new competitors in the digital space, feel stuck managing a small internal team while trying to leverage a few external resources and are just trying to keep afloat, then...

I believe SellNow Inc. is the right fit for you.

If you want to find out more on how we can help your organization send me a message through Linkedin.