Buyer Personas, Revised and Expanded, 2nd Edition

2Focus on Insights That Guide Marketing and Sales Enablement

In a simpler world, marketers would only need to worry about influencing one type of buyer – those that have already made up their mind that they are going to buy something. These are buyers that are committed to moving away from the status quo, so marketers need not worry about convincing them that their solution is better than what they are doing now.

Alas, this simpler world does not exist. Talk to any sales professional and they will tell you that overcoming customer inaction – a prospective buyer's decision not to purchase anything, even after going through the entire sales process and expressing purchase intent – is one of the biggest hurdles they face. By some estimates, 40–60% of deals today end up stalled in “no decision” purgatory. Countless hours and effort are spent trying to nudge, coax, and convince interested buyers to sign on the dotted line. This is a constant challenge for sales, but particularly when economic waters are choppy and there is a lot at stake for customers who don't want to buy anything that doesn't add assured value to their lives and businesses. For these buyers, it's not just about picking the “best” solution, it's about making a decision to buy anything at all versus sticking with the relative safety of the status quo.

For marketers, this is an opportunity to help sellers break the decision stalemate with their anxious buyers. By understanding and anticipating the outcomes that prospective ...