Sample Buyer Persona Guide for Interviewers (Part 6 of 7 Series)
This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series How Buyer Personas Will Help Grow Your B2B Business (7 Post Series)
How Buyer Personas Will Help Grow Your B2B Business (7 Post Series)
- Buyer Personas – Introduction and History (Part 1 of 7 Series)
- What is a Buyer Persona? (Part 2 of 7 Series)
- Who Should Use Buyer Personas? (Part 3 of 7 Series)
- How Do You Create Buyer Personas? (Part 4 of 7 Series)
- Common Buyer Persona Mistakes to Avoid (Part 5 of 7 Series)
- Sample Buyer Persona Guide for Interviewers (Part 6 of 7 Series)
- Buyer Persona Checklist (Part 7 of 7 Series)
6. Sample Buyer Persona Guide for Interviewers
Please understand that this is an interview guide, it is NOT intended as a questionnaire and should NOT be used as one. It is just a guide to some subject areas that the conversation must explore when seeking profound insights for a Buyer Persona.
| Subject | Some Subject Areas to Explore |
| Personal Details | Name; Age; Marital and family status; Education; Qualifications |
| Company Details | Name; Revenue; Employees; Industry; Purpose |
| Professional Role | Job title; Role; Responsibilities; Knowledge and Skills required; Reporting Structure (up and down); Describe a typical day |
| Goals, Purposes, Challenges, Success | How are goals, purposes and challenges (business and personal) going to be accomplishedand success measured? Why depart from the status quo? |
| Obstacles and Frustrations | How are behaviour and mindset affected by business or personal obstacles and frustrations or planning to overcome them? Why will they spend time and budget to resolve? |
| Buyers | Who’s involved and what are their behaviours – Buyers, Influencers, Decision makers…? |
| Buying Preferences | How, where (e.g. channel) and when do they buy and most importantly why are these their preferences? Why do buyers invest in solutions like yours, and what is different about buyers who are satisfied with the status quo? Map out their purchasing and procurement policies, buying process, activities and decision making behaviourally and why? |
| Thinking Preferences | How they think and why they make buying decisions – principles, attitudes; beliefs, motivations; perceptions that affect behaviours |
| Watering holes | How they obtain or learn about new information relevant to their job – choices and behaviour with regard to media, associations, social networks |
| Communication Preferences | Preferred ways to receive and give information and how these affect or determine behaviours |
| Research Preferences | Preferred ways to research vendors, products, services; how content is used and how it affects or determines behaviours |
| Others | Categories applicable and unique to your business |
Lastly – if all these tips are overwhelming please talk to us about some Consultancy to help you figure out your best Buyer, or other, Persona research approach.
See this AUTODESK® CASE STUDY on the creation and use of Buyer Personas (Autodesk® is a leading software supplier for the CAD, CAM, CAE, PLM, PDM and many other markets).