Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup

STEP 12

Determine the Customer's Decision-Making Unit (DMU)

IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:

• Learn who makes the ultimate decision to purchase your product, and who will be advocating for purchasing it.
• Meet the influencers who have sway over the purchasing decision.

Your target customer almost surely has a decision-making group of more than one person. Understanding this group and explicitly mapping out each person's role and interest is of critical importance not just for the sale, but also much earlier in the process when you are developing the product and all of its attributes.

At this point, you should be confident that your Persona will get substantial value from your product and that your offering is unique. Now, you need to become equally confident that your Persona and Next 10 Customers can buy your product. Rarely is the purchasing process simple. When almost any product of significance is acquired or adopted for use, whether in a B2B or consumer market, multiple people will have ...