Summary of Buyer Persona by Adele Revella

Buyer Personas by Adele Revella teaches businesses how to uncover deep insights from real customer interviews to create focused marketing, sales, and product strategies that truly align with what buyers want and how they make decisions.

Who Should Read Buyer Persona?

 1. Marketers (Especially Content, Product, and Digital Marketers)

Why:
Because this book teaches you how to stop guessing what your audience wants — and start creating campaigns, messages, and content that speak directly to buyers’ goals, fears, and decision-making process.
→ You’ll learn how to craft messaging that converts and eliminates fluff.

2. Sales Teams and Sales Enablement Professionals

Why:
It shows how buyer insights can help you handle objections, connect with decision-makers (especially at the C-suite), and tailor your pitch to what the buyer actually cares about.
→ You’ll start having smarter, more effective conversations that lead to closed deals.

3. Founders, Business Owners, and Startup Teams

Why:
If you’re launching a new product or struggling to attract the right customers, this book helps you uncover what your ideal buyer is really thinking — so you can align your offer, pricing, and messaging with demand.
→ It’s like customer discovery, but done the right way.

4. Product Managers and UX Designers

Why:
It helps you understand what features and experiences buyers expect — not just from surveys, but from real stories and emotional triggers that influence purchase decisions.
→ You’ll prioritize what matters and design with purpose.

 5. Customer Experience (CX) and Strategy Teams

Why:
To align the entire buyer journey — from first touch to post-purchase — around what buyers value most.
→ This book helps you connect marketing, sales, support, and product with one unified buyer insight.

Chapter 1: Understand Buying Decisions and the People Who Make Them

 Big Idea:

Most marketers think they know their customers because they have data — age, income, job title, industry.

But data alone doesn’t tell you why someone buys or how they make decisions.
To truly understand your buyers, you need to understand the decisions they make and what drives those decisions.

Why the “Know Your Customer” Rule Has Been Redefined

Traditionally, “knowing your customer” meant gathering demographic info:

• Age
• Gender
• Job title
• Company size

But that’s not enough anymore.

Just because you know your buyer is a 35-year-old procurement officer at a tech company doesn’t mean you know what will make them choose you over your competitors.

What you really need to know is:

• What triggered their search for a solution?
• What do they hope to accomplish?
• What concerns or barriers do they have?

Example: A Clothes Dryer’s Extra Setting Made All the Difference
Adele shares a true story that illustrates this perfectly:

A woman was shopping for a dryer. She didn’t choose the most affordable one. She didn’t pick the most energy-efficient one.
She chose a specific model because it had a “less shrink” setting.
Why? Because her teenage son wore designer clothes, and she didn’t want to ruin them.

The woman made a decision based on one feature that aligned with her personal priority. That’s a buying insight you wouldn’t know from demographics.

 Lesson: You won’t uncover insights like that by analyzing spreadsheets. You need actual conversations that explore buyers’ motivations.

 Will You Understand Your Buyers’ Decisions?

Marketers are often disconnected from buyers’ actual decision-making process.
They rely on:

• Product reviews
• Web analytics
• Competitor research

But none of these explain how the buyer reached their decision.

Instead, Adele says:
You must listen to real buyers describe their journey — in their own words. Ask them what changed in their world that made them start searching for a solution.

 The Trap of Demographics and Psychographics

Demographics (like age and job title) and psychographics (like personality traits) are common tools — but they’re limited.

Example:
Two marketing managers — same age, same industry, same gender — might have completely different priorities.
One might care about speed of implementation; the other cares about ROI tracking.

So a persona that says:

“Marketing Manager, female, 35–44, enjoys yoga and wine…”
…does nothing to help you market better. It’s fluff.

How Marketers Benefit from Buyer Profiles (But Only When They’re Linked to Insights)

Adele explains that profiles are still useful, especially when you’re targeting a niche.

For example:

If you’re selling to healthcare professionals, you need to understand regulations, workflows, and vocabulary.

BUT — the profile alone is never enough. What matters is tying it to insight.

 Profiles = who they are
 Insights = why they buy

You need both, but insight is what drives strategy.

Buying Insights Complete Your Persona

So what exactly is a buying insight?

It’s not a guess. It’s a quote, a pattern, a reason — gathered from real conversations — that shows:

• What pushed someone to start searching
• What they hoped to achieve
• What doubts or objections they had
• How they evaluated options
• What influenced their final decision

These are the insights that will help you:

• Shape your messaging
• Position your product
• Create content that resonates
• Sell more effectively

High-Consideration Decisions Reveal the Best Insights

Adele emphasizes that you should focus on high-consideration purchases — where buyers invested time and thought into their decision. This is where the best insights lie.

Examples of high-consideration decisions:

• Hiring a new marketing agency
• Choosing enterprise software
• Buying insurance
• Selecting a school or training program

Why?
Because in those situations, buyers:

• Evaluate multiple options
• Ask others for opinions
• Worry about making the wrong choice
• Have to justify their decision to others

In contrast, low-consideration purchases (like gum or socks) are made with little thought, so the insights are shallow.

Example: Buying Insights from a Quick Trip to London

Adele shares a story about how she flew to London for a client.
She interviewed their buyers and learnt:

• These buyers didn’t just want a product that met specs.
  They needed a vendor that could help them explain their choice to their boss.
• They weren’t just buying a product — they were buying confidence and internal credibility.

 That insight completely changed the way the company presented their value.
They stopped just talking about features, and started addressing the emotional risk of the decision.

Quick Takeaways:

You don’t need more data. You need better stories. Buyer behaviour isn’t explained by analytics alone.
Buyer personas are not just profiles.

They must be built around buying decisions.
The best way to understand a decision is to talk to the person who made it. Go straight to the source: real conversations.

Focus on high-stakes purchases. That’s where buyers reveal what really matters to them.
Personal triggers are powerful. Something as small as “less shrink” can be the deal breaker.

Chapter 2: Focus on the Insights That Guide Marketing Decisions

Big Idea:

Most marketers create buyer personas that are full of fluff — generic job titles, surface-level interests, and meaningless quotes.
But what actually makes personas powerful is insight — the kind of understanding that can guide real marketing decisions.

This chapter is all about what kind of insights you should look for and how those insights can transform the way you speak to your customers.

It Starts with Listening: The Story of Kathy

Adele shared a story about Kathy, a real buyer.

Kathy was looking for a consulting firm. She talked to a bunch of companies, most of which gave her the typical sales pitch:

• “We’re experts.”
• “We have experience.”
• “We work with top clients.”

But only one firm asked her about her specific goals, and listened carefully to her challenges.
They didn’t brag. They asked questions. They even repeated her words back to her.

That firm won the deal.

Why? Because they understood what Kathy needed and showed it. They didn’t just guess — they listened.

 Lesson: Buyers respond when you speak to what matters to them — not to what you think they should care about.

Frustration Sparks a New Approach to Personas

Adele shares her own frustration with traditional personas.

As a consultant, she kept seeing marketing teams use:

• Fake names (“Marketing Mary” or “IT Isaac”)
• Stock photos
• Made-up hobbies (likes wine, enjoys hiking)

…but none of that helped them make better marketing decisions.

So she flipped the script.

Instead of guessing who the buyer is, she focused on:

“What do buyers think, feel, and do when they decide to buy something like this?”

That one shift changed everything.

Key Insight: Buyers Have Distinct Expectations

Every buyer has expectations — and they’re different depending on their situation.

Imagine two people shopping for the same CRM software:

One is looking to streamline a sales team and is under pressure to improve close rates.

The other wants to track customer interactions to improve retention.

Same product, very different expectations.

If your marketing speaks generically (“best CRM on the market”), you miss both.

If your marketing speaks directly to their specific goal (“reduce churn by 35% with automated touch points”), you win trust — and the deal.

The 5 Rings of Buying Insight

This is the core framework of the book.
These 5 rings help you understand everything that matters in your buyer’s decision.

Here they are:

1. Priority Initiatives

What triggers buyers to start looking for a solution in the first place?

Example:
A company doesn’t just “decide” to buy a new HR system. Something happens — maybe they’re expanding fast and the current system is breaking down.

Marketing implication: Your message should speak to that trigger.
“Scaling fast? Is your HR software slowing you down?”

2. Success Factors

What does success look like in their eyes?

Example:
Maybe they’re hoping that a new software will reduce payroll errors or make reporting easier.

Your messaging should say:
“Cut payroll errors by 80% — see how [Company X] did it.”

3. Perceived Barriers

What fears or doubts do they have about choosing you?

Examples:

• “This solution might be too expensive.”
• “We don’t have the IT team to implement it.”
• “You’re new in the market — are you legit?”

Marketing should proactively address these:
“No IT team? No problem — we’ll handle setup for you.”

4. Buyer’s Journey

How do they go about researching and evaluating options?

Example:
One buyer might start with Google. Another might ask colleagues. Some might read LinkedIn posts, others attend webinars.

If you know how they shop, you know where to show up — blog posts, reviews, demos, events.

5. Decision Criteria

What are their “must-haves” when making a final decision?

Example:
For one buyer, integration with existing tools is key.
For another, security certifications might be the deal-breaker.

Don’t talk only about what you think is great. Show how you meet their top priorities.

“Give Your Buyer a Seat at the Table”
Adele urges marketers to bring the buyer’s voice into meetings.

Too often, marketing strategy meetings sound like this:

• “Let’s push our new feature.”
• “We need to talk more about our awards.”
• “Our pricing is better — let’s highlight that.”

But buyers don’t care about your awards if you don’t solve their problem.

Solution: Create messaging, content, and campaigns around what buyers say they want — not what your team assumes.

 Example: Reaching the C-Suite
In B2B marketing, it’s often hard to reach decision-makers like CFOs or CMOs.

But when your messaging includes insights like:

“We help CFOs free up $200K/year by automating X…”

…you immediately sound like someone who gets it.
You’re no longer a vendor. You’re a strategic partner.

That’s what happens when you use buying insights instead of buzzwords.

Quick Takeaways

• Real personas are built from conversations,not guesswork, not assumptions.
• The 5 Rings of Buying Insight is your cheat code. Use it to shape every message, ad, and campaign.
• Buyer expectations are unique Don’t treat all buyers the same — speak to their specific goals.
• Address objections upfront Use insights to remove friction before it stops the sale.
• Let buyers guide strategy Marketing is more powerful when it’s based on their words.

Chapter 3: Decide How You Will Discover Buyer Persona Insights

Big Idea:

Now that you understand what insights to look for (from Chapter 2’s 5 Rings), this chapter focuses on how to get them — and according to Adele, you’re not going to find them in spreadsheets, surveys, or social media likes.

You’ll find the gold by talking to your actual buyers — especially the ones who recently made a buying decision.

Story: The Most Important Nine Months of My Career
Adele shares a personal story about when she took a new job as VP of Marketing and was tasked with creating marketing that “really spoke” to the customer.

She didn’t know what the customers cared about, so she took a bold step:

• She picked up the phone and interviewed buyers — just asked them about their decision journey.
• She listened. Took notes. No agenda. No sales pitch.

And that experience became the turning point that shaped her entire buyer persona method.

How Interviews Reveal Insight

Here’s why interviews work so well:
When someone tells you the story of how they made a decision, they naturally reveal their motivations, fears, concerns, and influencers — without even realizing it.

Example: Result from interview

“We were fine with our last software… until our CEO asked why we weren’t getting better ROI. That pressure made us start looking.”

Boom — that sentence alone gives you:

• A trigger (external pressure)
• A goal (better ROI)
• A pain point (status quo not delivering results)

Is This Just Another Kind of Qualitative Research?

Not quite, according to Adele.

Traditional qualitative research (like focus groups) asks things like:

• “Would you choose Product A or B?”
• “Which ad do you prefer?”

Those are okay, but they keep the buyer reactive and often biased.

Adele’s method is about drawing out a narrative — a complete, raw story of how the buyer moved from problem to solution.

Say instead:

“Take me back to the day you realized you needed to solve this problem…”

That kind of open-ended prompt gets them talking — and that’s when the magic happens.

Crafting the Low-Consideration Buyer’s Story

Sometimes you’re not selling high-ticket items, and buyers don’t overthink the purchase. That’s okay — you can still get insights.

For low-consideration products (like subscriptions, quick software tools, courses), focus on:

• What gave them the final push to try it
• What alternatives they considered
• What made them cancel or keep using it

It’s not about the price — it’s still about decision logic.

Example:
A buyer might say:

“I clicked because a friend shared a post about how it saved them 3 hours a week. I signed up during lunch.”

That tells you:

• Social proof matters
• “Save time” is a key value
• Mobile-friendly signups could be important

Using B2B Salespeople to Build Buyer Personas

If you’re in a B2B company, you might think:

“Why not just ask our sales team? They talk to buyers all the time.”

Yes — sales reps can give you a starting point, but here’s the catch:

Salespeople only hear what buyers are willing to share during the sale — often filtered, polite, or incomplete.

They don’t always hear:

• What scared the buyer initially
• What other vendors were considered
• What the boss said behind closed doors
• Why they almost didn’t buy

Only post-purchase (or post-loss) interviews give you the raw, unfiltered truth.

The Pros and Cons of Buyer Surveys

Surveys can seem like a shortcut — and they can be helpful for validation, but not for discovery.

Why?
Surveys give you multiple-choice answers. But most people can’t articulate their full decision-making process in a checkbox.

Example:

Q: “What influenced your decision the most?”

A: “Price”

But in an interview, that same person might say:

“Actually, we were willing to pay more — we just didn’t trust Vendor A to support us after onboarding.”

So the real issue was trust, not price — and you only uncover that in conversation.

When to Use Focus Groups

Focus groups are tempting. One room, multiple opinions, quick feedback.

But they’re risky for this kind of work.

Why?

Because:

• People influence each other’s answers.
• They’re more likely to say what sounds good in a group.
• The loudest person often shapes the conversation.

For buyer insights, you need one-on-one interviews where people speak honestly, without filters or social pressure.

Will Big Data Deliver Insights?

Can analytics, web tracking, or CRM data tell you why someone bought?

Not really.

Big data tells you:

• What pages they visited
• How long they stayed
• What they clicked

But it doesn’t tell you:

• What they were thinking
• What alternatives they considered
• What almost stopped them from buying
• What convinced them in the end

Adele makes this clear: Don’t confuse behaviour with motive.
Just because someone read your case study doesn’t mean it helped them decide.

How Social Media Contributes to Buyer Personas

Social media can give you clues — especially around what buyers talk about, complain about, or recommend.

But again, it’s not the full story.

Social is helpful to:

• Identify interview candidates
• Spot early patterns
• Discover buyer language (“we were stuck in a mess of spreadsheets”)

But for real buying insights, nothing beats direct interviews.

 Example: SAP’s Use of Web Analytics
SAP used web data to guide interviews — not replace them.

They noticed certain types of content were getting more engagement from specific buyers.
They then followed up with interviews to ask:

• “What made you click this? What were you trying to learn? Did it help you make a decision?”

Result: Data pointed to patterns, and interviews revealed why those patterns mattered.

Quick  Takeaways 

• Real insights come from stories. Not checkboxes, not data charts
• Buyer interviews are your superpower They unlock real language, fears, hopes, and logic
• One-on-one beats focus groups For honest, deep, emotional answers
• Data shows behaviour, not motivation Use it to guide interviews, not replace them
• Sales teams can’t see the full picture. Post-sale conversations reveal what buyers never told sales people.

Bonus tip from Adele:

Start with just a few interviews. You don’t need 50 — even 5-7 interviews can uncover major buying patterns that change everything.

Chapter 4: Gain Permission and Schedule Buyer Interviews

Big Idea:

Once you understand that buyer interviews are the key to deep insights, the next question is:
“How do I get people to actually talk to me?”

This chapter walks you through:

• How to get internal buy-in from your team
• How to find and contact buyers (including those who didn’t choose you)
• What to say when inviting them
• How to overcome common objections

Step 1: Convince Stakeholders You Need Buying Insights

Before you start reaching out to buyers, Adele suggests first getting buy-in from your internal team — especially decision-makers like:

• Your CEO
• Sales director
• Product managers
• Marketing leads

Because if these people don’t believe in the value of buyer interviews, you won’t get support, access to contacts, or time to do it right.

Common objection:
“We already know our buyers.”

Adele encourages you to gently challenge that assumption. Ask:

• “How do we know?”
• “When did we last talk to a customer about their buying decision?”
• “Have we asked buyers who didn’t choose us why?”

Once people realize the gaps in their knowledge, they’re more likely to get on board.

When You Don’t Have Time for Buyer Persona Interviews

What if you’re on a tight schedule?

Adele says: do a few anyway.

Even just 5 interviews can reveal massive insights.
In fact, she mentions that in most projects, strong patterns emerge after as few as 5–7 interviews.

Don’t let “too busy” be an excuse. If you want marketing that works, make time to listen to real buyers.

Use Your Sales Database to Find Buyers to Interview

One of the best places to start is your CRM or sales database. You’re looking for people who:

• Recently bought from you
• Evaluated you but chose a competitor
• Dropped out of the sales process
• Are current or recent customers

Why “recent”?
Because their buying journey is still fresh. They remember what mattered, what confused them, and what almost stopped them.

Sometimes You Want to Avoid Your Internal Database

Surprising, right? But here’s why:

• If your internal team (like sales or customer support) has already had multiple conversations with a buyer, that buyer may be biased — or might tell you what they think you want to hear.

To get fresh, candid insight, sometimes it’s better to speak to:

• People who interacted lightly with your company
• People who considered your competitors
• People who didn’t end up buying at all
• These folks tend to be more honest and revealing.

 Using Professional Recruiters to Set Interview Appointments

If you don’t have a list of buyers or don’t want to do the outreach yourself, Adele recommends using professional recruiters — especially for B2B.

These are firms that specialize in:

• Finding people who fit your target audience
• Reaching out, screening, and scheduling interviews

You give them your buyer criteria and let them handle the logistics.

Important note: Even if this adds cost, the quality of insights you get is often worth it, especially if you’re making high-stakes marketing or product decisions.

Which Buyer Should You Interview?

This part is crucial.

You want to interview:

• People who made a real buying decision
• People who considered options (even if they didn’t pick you)
• People involved in each stage of the decision

In a B2B context, there might be:

• Decision-makers (CFOs, managers)
• Influencers (tech teams, consultants)
• End-users (the people who will use the product daily)

Interviewing only your fans will give you a biased view. You want the full picture.

 Interview Buyers Who Chose You — AND Those Who Didn’t

Adele strongly emphasizes this:
You’ll learn just as much — if not more — from buyers who didn’t choose you.

Why?
Because they’ll often tell you:

• What turned them off
• Why they trusted someone else more
• What they wanted but didn’t find

These insights help you:

• Fix your weaknesses
• Improve positioning
• Address real buyer concerns

Contacting Buyers to Request an Interview

Worried about reaching out to strangers? Adele gives you a script.

Here’s a simplified version:

“Hi [Name], I’m researching how people like you make buying decisions for

Key points:

• Emphasize it’s not a sales call
• Say you’re doing research
• Make it clear their story matters

You can offer a thank-you gift (like a $25 gift card or donation) if needed — especially for senior-level professionals.

Quick Takeaways

• Get stakeholder buy-in. Show why you need real buyer stories
• Start small 5–7 interviews can reveal powerful patterns
• Use internal CRM wisely. Focus on recent buyers — but don’t only interview current customers
• Recruit externally when needed. Especially for niche or hard-to-reach buyers
• Talk to winners AND losses. You’ll learn more from rejections than from fans
• Reach out respectfully. Be clear it’s not a sales pitch — just research

Don’t let the logistics stop you.
People are surprisingly open to talking — especially when they feel their opinion will help others and they won’t be sold to.

Chapter 5: Conduct Probing Buyer Interviews

Big Idea:

Your goal in a buyer interview isn’t to ask a bunch of questions like a checklist. Your job is to guide the buyer to tell the full story of their decision, and to listen for the motivations, concerns, and emotions that shaped that decision.

These are deep conversations — not surface-level surveys.

 Who Should Conduct the Interview?

Don’t send a salesperson or anyone who was involved in the buyer’s decision process. Why?

Because buyers might:

• Hold back honesty (“I don’t want to hurt their feelings”)
• Feel pressured to be polite
• Give guarded answers

The best person is an objective, skilled interviewer — someone who can:

• Build rapport
• Ask follow-up questions
• Listen without judgement

Prepare for Your Buyer Interview

You don’t need a script. What you need is:

• The buyer’s name and company
• What they bought (or didn’t)
• A few general reminders about what to listen for (priority initiatives, success factors, barriers, journey, decision criteria)
• And most importantly, your main question: “Take me back to the day when you first realized you needed to solve this problem.”

This one sentence kicks off the entire conversation.

Getting It on the Record

Always record the interview (with permission). You’ll want:

• Accurate quotes
• A transcript to highlight insights later
• Space to listen without scrambling to take notes

Most buyers don’t mind — just say:

“Is it okay if I record this so I can focus completely on what you’re saying? It’s just for internal use and won’t be shared.”

“Take Me Back to the Day…” – Starting the Conversation
This opening line is crucial:

“Take me back to the day when you first realized you had a problem you needed to solve…”

It helps the buyer:

• Reconstruct the entire journey
• Remember key details
• Talk in story form

From there, just follow their lead — and listen closely.

 Use Your Buyer’s Words to Probe for Insight

When the buyer says something vague like:

“We needed better reporting.”

You can gently ask:

“Tell me more about what made reporting a problem — what happened that made you want something better?”

You’re digging. Not pressuring — just helping them go deeper.

Let their words guide your questions.

Go Slowly to Capture the Whole Story

Don’t rush through questions. Your job is to:

• Pause
• Let silence work in your favour
• Let the buyer think and remember

Often, the best insights come after a short silence.

People will often say, “Actually, now that I think about it…” — and then share a goldmine.

Questions That Keep the Conversation Flowing

Adele offers a set of gentle probes that help you keep things open-ended and flowing:

• “What changed that made this a priority?”
• “Who else was involved in the decision?”
• “What did you worry about during the process?”
• “What surprised you as you evaluated options?”
• “What almost made you go with a different solution?”

You’re trying to learn:

• What triggered their search
• What outcome they wanted
• What doubts or barriers they faced
• What the buying journey looked like
• What ultimately convinced them

Example Interview: A Buyer Named Tim
Adele shares a sample interview with “Tim,” who was responsible for choosing software for his company.

Tim’s story reveals:

• The decision was triggered by a new compliance regulation
• He was stressed about getting blamed if something went wrong
• He didn’t care much about cost — he cared about trust and support
• The winning vendor offered help writing the implementation plan, and that made all the difference

Insight: The real value wasn’t the software — it was the emotional relief of feeling supported.

Look for Insight When Buyers Use Jargon

When buyers say things like:

“We were stuck with too many shadow IT systems.”

Stop and ask:

“What do you mean by ‘shadow IT’? How was that affecting your team?”

Jargon often hides big frustrations — unpack them to discover emotional drivers.

Make Your Questions About Your Impact Count

Adele recommends asking:

“What was your experience like once you started using the product?”

And:

“How did your expectations match the reality?”

This tells you if your marketing promises align with real results — or if there’s a gap to fix.

Probing on Who Influences the Decision

Ask:

“Who else was involved in making the decision?”

You’ll learn:

• Which roles matter most
• Who had veto power
• What conversations happened behind the scenes

This helps you target the right people in your campaigns.

🔍 Asking About the Perceived Value of Your Differentiators

You might think your “24/7 support” is a big deal — but does the buyer care?

Ask:

“What made [Vendor X] stand out to you? What didn’t matter as much?”

You’ll discover which selling points are real differentiators — and which are just noise.

 When Features Affect Decisions, Look for the Why

If the buyer says:

“We liked your integration with Salesforce.”

Ask:

“Why was that important to your team?”

You’re not just noting the feature — you’re understanding the outcome they hoped to achieve (e.g., save time, avoid errors, gain reporting visibility).

First and Foremost, Be a Respectful Listener

Adele wraps the chapter with this reminder:

• Be curious, not judgemental
• Respect their time and honesty
• Never argue or “correct” them
• Don’t try to sell

You’re there to learn, not to win.

Quick Takeaways 

• Use an open-ended starting question. It gets buyers to tell their decision-making story
• Probe gently. This helps you uncover deeper motivations and fears
• Let the buyer talk more than you. The less you speak, the more they reveal.
• Use silence. Buyers often reveal more when you give them space.
• Ask about emotional triggers. That’s where true persuasion lies.
• Stay neutral. You’re not defending your brand — you’re discovering the truth

Chapter 6: Mine Your Interviews for Buying Insights

Big Idea:

Conducting the interviews is only half the job. Now, you need to analyze those interviews to find patterns — real, deep buying insights — and organize them into personas that guide your messaging, campaigns, and sales strategies.

This chapter shows you exactly how to do that in 3 steps.

You Need Fewer Interviews Than You Expect

You don’t need 50 interviews. In fact, most patterns show up quickly.

Adele says:

• Strong patterns emerge after about 5–7 interviews.
• Most companies get meaningful insights after 10–12 interviews per persona.

Why? Because real decision drivers are often shared across buyers in the same role or industry.

Example: If you talk to 5 HR managers, and 4 of them say implementation speed was a major factor, that’s a reliable insight.

Step 1: Mark Up Your Interview Transcript

Once you’ve recorded your interviews, get them transcribed (use tools like Otter.ai or Rev).

Then:

• Read through the transcript
• Highlight anything that sounds like a decision driver

Look for the 5 Rings of Buying Insight:

• Priority Initiatives
• Success Factors
• Perceived Barriers
• Buyer’s Journey
• Decision Criteria

 Tip: Adele says to highlight quotes in the buyer’s own words. This raw language is marketing gold.

Don’t paraphrase yet — their exact words reveal the tone, emotion, and vocabulary your marketing should mirror.

Step 2: Organize the Story Based on Buying Insights

Now that you’ve marked up key parts of the transcript, group them into buckets based on the 5 Rings.

Example (from a sample buyer story):

Priority Initiative: “We realized we were losing customers because support tickets were falling through the cracks.”

Success Factor: “We wanted a solution that would let us track agent performance in real time.”

Perceived Barrier: “We were worried the new software would take forever to train people on.”

Buyer’s Journey: “We asked colleagues on LinkedIn, signed up for three demos, and watched a couple of YouTube reviews.”

Decision Criteria: “We needed integrations with our CRM and Slack.”

 These categories help you spot patterns across different buyers and build personas based on real-world thinking.

Step 3: Write a Headline for Each Key Insight

Now that you’ve grouped your quotes, write a headline or summary sentence for each major insight. This step helps you distill the raw material into something usable.

Example:
Instead of this quote:

“We were tired of manually combining Excel reports every Friday.”

Your headline could be:

Buyers are frustrated with manual reporting and want automation.

Repeat this for each of the 5 Rings across your interviews.

Result: A clean set of insight headlines, backed by direct quotes.

This is what you’ll use to build your buyer persona documents, create better messaging, and help your team understand what really matters to buyers.

Tools You’ll Use:

Highlighters or a digital tool (like Google Docs, Notion, Airtable, or even sticky notes)

The 5 Rings framework

For this, you will need a spreadsheet or template to group and label insights

Time it will take — this isn’t busy work; it’s strategy work

What Makes a Good Insight?

A good insight:

• Comes from the buyer, not from your team’s guesses
• Reveals motivation, emotion, or logic behind a decision
• Is repeatable across multiple interviews
• Can change your marketing or sales approach

A weak insight:

• Is a generic statement like “they wanted a reliable solution”
• Can’t be linked to specific quotes or moments in the buyer’s story

Adele’s Golden Tip:
Avoid turning insights into feature requests.

You’re not building a wishlist — you’re understanding:

• What problem the buyer had
• Why it mattered
• What made them act
• What made them choose (or reject) your solution

Even if buyers mention features, probe for the reason behind the feature.

“Why was that feature important to you?”
“What were you hoping it would solve?”

That’s where the insight is.

Quick Takeaways 

• Mark up transcripts. Highlight real quotes that reveal decision insights
• Sort by 5 Rings. It helps you organize insights and find patterns
• Write headlines. Turns raw quotes into usable insights
• Stay close to the buyer’s words. Real language helps marketing connect and convert

Chapter 7: Determine How Many Buyer Personas You Need

Big Idea:

It’s tempting to create multiple buyer personas for every role, segment, or vertical — but more personas doesn’t mean more clarity.

This chapter teaches you how to:

• Decide how many buyer personas you actually need
• Avoid over-segmentation
• Present your persona(s) in a way that makes them useful to marketing, sales, and leadership

Avoid Over-Segmentation Based on Demographics or Job Titles

Many marketers make this mistake:

They build personas around superficial categories like:

• Job title
• Industry
• Company size
• Age or gender
• Personality types

But Adele warns:

These “surface traits” don’t always explain how or why people make buying decisions.

Real insight should guide segmentation.
For example, you might assume:

“Marketing Mary” at a startup is totally different from “Marketing Mark” at an enterprise.

But after interviews, you might discover:

• Both care about ease of use and social proof
• Both fear wasting time on a tool their team won’t adopt
• Both are overwhelmed with options

That’s what matters — not their gender or company size.

So instead of segmenting by identity, segment by buying behaviour and motivation.

Conduct More Interviews to Test Segmentation Ideas

Let’s say you suspect your product is bought for two very different reasons.

Here’s how to validate:

• Do more interviews
• Group responses using the 5 Rings of Buying Insight
• Look for clear, consistent patterns that don’t overlap

Example:
You sell software. Your interviews reveal:

One group buys because they need compliance tools

Another group buys to automate reporting

That’s a solid reason to build two personas — because their triggers, priorities, and decision journeys are different.

But if both groups say similar things about:

• Why they bought
• What success looks like
• What worried them
  …then you don’t need separate personas.

How to Decide How Many Personas to Create

There’s no magic number, but here’s Adele’s test:

“If different segments make different buying decisions for different reasons, you need different personas.”

But if they:

• Face the same challenges
• Use the same success criteria
• Go through similar journeys

…then you can group them together.

It’s better to have one well-developed persona than five shallow ones.

Will Two Buyer Personas Help You Win More Business?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Ask yourself:

• Will different personas change the message I deliver?
• Will they change the content I produce?
• Will they change how salespeople pitch or products are packaged?

If not, then why build two?

But if you’re running different campaigns or targeting different markets, distinct personas can absolutely help — just don’t create them unless they lead to different actions.

Presenting Your Buyer Persona:

Make It Useful

Here’s where Adele gives clear guidance on formatting.

Too many marketers create a pretty one-pager with:

• Fake names (“Startup Steve”)
• Stock photos
• Personality traits
• “Likes running and watching TED Talks”

This might be fun to look at, but it’s useless for strategy.

Instead, your persona should include:

1. The 5 Rings of Buying Insight (fully fleshed out)
2. Priority Initiatives
3. Success Factors
4. Perceived Barriers
5. Buyer’s Journey
6. Decision Criteria

Each with:

• A summary headline
• A few direct quotes from buyers

Copywriting Your Buying Insights

You want your insights to be:

• Clear (“They’re overwhelmed by the number of vendors”)
• Practical (“They want proof that your product integrates easily with what they already use”)
• Backed by real quotes

This makes it easier for marketers, writers, sales teams, and product developers to use the persona in their work.

Building the Buyer Profile (Optional)

After the buying insights are clear, you can include buyer profile details like:

• Job title(s)
• Company size
• Industry
• Location
• Tools used
• Buying authority level

But remember: this info is only useful if it affects the buying decision.

Example:

Knowing your buyer uses HubSpot helps — if your solution needs to integrate with it.
Knowing their favourite coffee doesn’t help anyone.

How to Find Buyer Profile Info (if needed)

If you don’t have demographic or firmographic info from interviews, you can:

• Use LinkedIn
• Ask your sales team
• Check your CRM
• Look at patterns in web analytics

Again, this part is supporting info — not the main focus of the persona.

Quick Takeaways 

• Don’t segment personas by surface traits. Focus on what influences buying decisions
• Create personas only when it changes strategy. More personas is not equal to better results.
• Base personas on the 5 Rings. That’s where the gold is.
• Include real quotes. Buyers’ words make the insights relatable and usable.
• Avoid fluffy filler. Personal hobbies and fake names don’t drive decisions

Chapter 8: Decide What to Say to Buyers

 Big Idea:

Once you understand your buyers’ motivations, fears, and decision criteria, you can create messaging that speaks directly to them — instead of guessing or copying what your competitors are saying.

You’re no longer selling products.
You’re helping buyers achieve their desired outcomes and avoid what they fear.

This chapter shows you how to translate buyer insights into a messaging framework your team can use.

Will Your Current Approach Work?

Adele points out that many marketing teams still build messages like this:

• Gather product managers and leadership in a room
• Brainstorm a long list of features and benefits
• Choose which ones sound most exciting
• Write messaging around them

But this approach centres the company, not the buyer.

Instead, you want to build messaging around what your buyers told you they care about — using the insights you gathered in Chapters 5–7.

Set the Agenda, and Invite the Right People

When building messaging using buyer personas, Adele recommends holding a collaborative messaging session — but with a twist.

Instead of inviting just product people, also bring:

• Sales reps (they hear buyer objections daily)
• Content marketers
• Customer success leads
• Copywriters or creative team members

The goal is to align everyone around what the buyer wants — not what you want to say.

Your buyer persona becomes a seat at the table. Every idea should be filtered through:

• “Does this speak to what our buyer said matters?”

Ask for Pre-Meeting Contributions

Before the messaging workshop, ask your team to:

• Read the buyer persona
• Highlight insights they think are most critical
• Submit ideas for content, messaging, or copy lines that reflect those insights

This way, people come in primed to speak the buyer’s language.

Develop a Complete List of Capabilities That Matter

Start by reviewing your actual capabilities — the things your product or service does.

Then, match each one against your buying insights:

• Which capabilities align with the buyer’s goals?
• Which ones address their perceived barriers?
• Which differentiators match their decision criteria?

This step prevents you from overloading buyers with irrelevant features — and helps you double down on what they really care about.

 The Moderator Is a Proxy for the Buyer

The person running the messaging session should act like the buyer’s advocate.

Every time someone pitches a message, they ask:

“Did our buyers say this matters to them?”

Example:

Someone says: “Let’s lead with ‘AI-powered analytics!’”

Moderator: “Did our interviews show that buyers care about AI? Or did they say they wanted faster insights with less training?”

This filters out buzzwords and focuses on real-world value.

Apply Two Filters for Short Messaging

When creating actual marketing copy (e.g., taglines, email subject lines, landing page headers), Adele recommends filtering each idea through two lenses:

Relevance:

Does this message reflect something the buyer actually said was important?

Differentiation:

Does this message help us stand out from competitors?

You want messaging that hits both targets:

• It speaks to what the buyer cares about
• It highlights what makes you different

Evaluate Your Competitive Ranking

Sometimes, buyers told you:

“We chose Vendor A because they had faster on-boarding.”

Use that intel to:

• Be honest about your weak spots
• Highlight your strong differentiators
• Shape your messaging to address buyer concerns before they become objections

Example:
If buyers say on-boarding is a barrier, and you’re not the fastest — don’t ignore it. Instead, emphasize:

• Personalized support
• Proactive implementation help
• Case studies showing successful roll-outs

Assess Relative Value to Buyers

Not all benefits carry equal weight.

Just because your product has 20 features doesn’t mean all of them deserve equal airtime.

Instead, ask:

• Which capabilities were most often linked to buyer success in interviews?
• Which objections caused hesitation?

This helps you build tiered messaging, with the most important points upfront.

 Bring in the Copywriters and Creative Teams

Once you’ve got the core messages aligned with the buyer persona, it’s time to:

• Create landing pages
• Write ads and emails
• Build product pages
• Draft sales scripts

The copywriters and designers should have the actual quotes from interviews — not just a “persona document.” Why?

Because those quotes:

• Reveal emotion
• Use real buyer language
• Cut through corporate jargon

Quick Takeaways 

• Build messaging around buyer insights. Don’t guess or rely on brainstorming alone
• Include the right voices Sales, content, and support all bring buyer context
• Prioritize messages that resonate. Not all features matter equally
• Use real buyer quotes. They speak more clearly and convincingly
• Relevance + Differentiation = Power. Messaging must speak to buyer and set you apart.

Chapter 9: Design Marketing Activities to Enable Your Buyer’s Journey

 Big Idea:

Stop building content based on what you want to promote. Instead, create content and campaigns based on what your buyer is trying to do at each stage of their decision journey.

If you want your marketing to feel like a trusted advisor (not a pushy salesperson), you need to meet buyers where they are — with the exact information they need, when they need it.

Understand the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey isn’t linear — but generally follows 4 stages:

Awareness

They realize they have a problem or opportunity.

Consideration

They start researching solutions.

Evaluation

They compare vendors, features, pricing, and risks.

Decision

They choose a provider — and justify the choice to others.

Adele emphasizes that each stage comes with specific questions, doubts, and needs — and your marketing should match those exactly.

Patrick’s Story: A Real Buyer Journey

To illustrate this, Adele shares the story of Patrick, a benefits manager evaluating employee healthcare solutions.

His journey revealed:

• He didn’t start with “which vendor is best?”
• He started with “How do I reduce turnover by improving benefits?”

He wasn’t looking for features — he was trying to look good to his boss and avoid HR headaches

Eventually, he narrowed options based on:

• Peer recommendations
• Online reviews
• How clearly each vendor explained their impact

Takeaway: Marketing that helped Patrick connect solutions to his real-world goals won his trust.

Prioritize Assets That Align with the Journey

Most marketing teams build content in this order:

• Product brochure
• Sales deck
• Explainer video
• Website homepage

But Adele flips this.

She says:

Build your assets in the order your buyer needs them.

For example:
Early stage:

Educational blog posts, success stories, webinars that address the buyer’s problem (not your product).

Middle stage: Solution comparisons, buyer’s guides, checklists, thought leadership.

Late stage: Demo videos, case studies with ROI (return on investment), pricing breakdowns, technical details.

Don’t promote a product demo too early — your buyer may not even know what they’re solving yet.

Prepare to Be Surprised

Adele warns:
Sometimes your buyer’s journey won’t match your assumptions.

For example:

• You think buyers read whitepapers… but they don’t.
• You assume they compare features… but they actually rely on peer feedback.
• You think they visit your homepage… but they first land on review sites or LinkedIn posts.

That’s why buyer interviews are so powerful — they reveal the actual journey, not the imagined one.

How Buyer Personas Affect Industry or Solution Marketing

Let’s say your company serves multiple industries.

Example:

• Healthcare
• Finance
• Education

Adele says you shouldn’t create one buyer persona and reuse it across all verticals.

Instead, you may need different messaging or assets even for the same product depending on:

• Regulations
• Budget cycles
• Internal decision dynamics

Your job is to keep the buying insights consistent, but adapt messaging and tactics by industry where needed.

A Global Perspective on Buyer Personas and Campaigns

Are you marketing in multiple countries? Be careful.

Even if a buyer persona is the same (e.g., IT Director), their:

• Buying journey
• Influencers
• Perceived risks
• Preferred communication channels

…may differ by region.

Example:
In Germany, buyers might need detailed specs and data privacy assurances.

In the US, they may respond more to time-saving benefits and team empowerment.

Don’t just translate content — localize it to match local buyer behaviour.

Can You Be Useful to People Who Aren’t Buying (Yet)?

Yes! Adele strongly encourages creating content for non-buyers — because:

• They may be influencers
• They may become buyers later
• They may refer someone

Your marketing should help people even if they’re not actively shopping.

Example:
A blog post titled “5 Ways HR Teams Are Retaining Employees Without Raising Salaries” might attract readers who aren’t currently looking for your product — but your insight and guidance builds trust.

And when they are ready, guess who they remember?

Educate Buyers That Success Is Within Reach

A lot of buyers hesitate because:

• They fear failure
• They doubt they can pull it off
• They think they don’t have the skills, time, or authority

Your content should inspire confidence.

For example:

“See how a 2-person HR team automated on-boarding in 14 days.”

This kind of story makes success feel do-able — and that confidence often tips the scale.

 Autodesk Case Study: Helping Buyers Achieve Their Priorities

Autodesk (a design and engineering software company) used buyer persona insights to revamp their messaging.

What changed?

Instead of pitching features, they focused on what buyers were trying to achieve — faster prototyping, fewer design errors, better collaboration.

They created videos, articles, and toolkits that walked buyers through common project challenges.

 Result: Buyers saw Autodesk as a partner, not just a vendor — and engagement soared.

Quick Takeaways 

• Map your content to the buyer’s actual journey. So you meet their needs at each step.
• Build early-stage content first. That’s where trust and awareness begin.
• Be flexible by industry or region. One-size-fits-all rarely works.
• Help buyers feel confident Success stories > specs.
• Serve non-buyers too. They may influence, refer, or convert later

Bottom line:
Stop building content to show off your product. Start building content that guides the buyer to a successful decision — one that’s easy, confident, and clearly tied to their real-world goals.

Chapter 11: Start Small, with an Eye to the Future

Big Idea:

You don’t need a massive  budget to get started with buyer personas. Start small, focus on one high-impact area, and build from there. With the right insight, even a single persona can make a big difference across your business.

Where to Begin Your Buyer Persona Initiative

Revella encourages you to pick a small, focused area of your business to start applying buyer personas.
For example, you might begin with:

• A new product launch
• A struggling sales funnel
• A specific customer segment

Why?
This makes it manageable and easier to demonstrate early wins—building credibility and buy-in from the rest of your team.

How to Earn Your Stripes as a Strategic Resource

When you deliver clear, actionable insights from buyer interviews—like what influences purchase decisions, or why buyers hesitate—you instantly elevate your role in the business.

Your colleagues will start seeing you as a strategic partner, not just a marketer or researcher.

Insight: “Share stories, not just data.” Telling the buyer’s story in their own words is far more powerful than charts and spreadsheets.

How Buyer Personas Benefit Product Strategy

Buyer personas aren’t just for marketers. They help product teams too:

• Prioritize features that buyers actually value
• Eliminate fluff or nice-to-haves
• Understand buyer frustrations that can guide UX decisions

Example: A software team may learn that a “simple onboarding process” matters more than offering 100 features—because the persona interviews revealed how overwhelmed users felt during setup.

Building Buyer Personas for New Products

Launching something new? Interviews are even more critical.
Talk to people who have bought similar solutions or tried to solve the same problem before.

Ask:

• “Why did you decide to find a solution?”
• “What challenges did you face duringthe  evaluation of the product?”
• “What would have made your decision easier?”

These early conversations uncover unmet needs you can build into your offering—before you waste time or money.

Communicating Insights That Affect Other Teams

Don’t just keep buyer persona insights inside the marketing department.
Share with:

• Sales – to improve their pitch and handle objections
• Product – to build what matters
• Leadership – to align business goals with real customer needs

 Adele recommends delivering this in bite-sized, story-driven formats, not long reports.

Example: A short internal “buyer story” with highlights like:

• Why they were looking
• What scared them off
• What made them say yes

Using Buyer Personas to Guide Strategic Planning

The more insights you gather, the more useful personas become for bigger decisions, such as:

• Which markets to enter
• Which segments to target
• What problems to solve next

Over time, buyer personas can even guide annual business planning or marketing roadmaps, making your strategy customer-led rather than assumption-led.

Start Small and Make a Big Difference

You don’t need 10 personas or a giant research team.
Just 5–10 interviews focused on a single product or market can completely shift how your team communicates, builds, and sells.

Start small. Learn deeply. Share widely.
From there, you can build more personas, expand to other markets, and mature your insights over time.

Key Takeaways 

You don’t need to go big to get big results. Start with one area that matters.

• Real insights make you a strategic voice in your company.
• Personas are powerful beyond marketing—they help sales, product, and leadership.
• Tell stories, not just stats. Bring your buyer to life.
• Use early success to grow your influence and expand your impact.

Get the full book

Here are things you need to start doing from now to implement the principles and strategies outlined in this boo:

1. Start Listening to Buyers (Before You Build Anything)

 Timeframe: 1–2 Days

Key Takeaway:
Before writing marketing copy, planning campaigns, or even brainstorming product features, take a step back and listen to what your buyers are already saying.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Pick 3–5 recent customers (or potential customers) you interacted with.

Step 2: Review emails, DMs, live chats, reviews, or sales calls.

Step 3: Write down:

• What triggered their search for a solution
• What outcomes they were hoping to achieve
• What objections or doubts they expressed
• Why they chose you (or didn’t)

Potential Challenges:

You might not have detailed feedback.

 Solution: Ask your sales or support team what they hear often from customers.

Measurable Metrics:

• Number of real customer quotes collected
•  Percentage of marketing/sales copy that reflects customer language
•  Increase in email open rates or response rates (indicates message relevance)

 2. Conduct a 30-Minute Buyer Interview This Week

 Timeframe: 3–5 Days to Prepare + Conduct

Key Takeaway:

A single 30-minute conversation with a real buyer can provide insights better than hours of brainstorming.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Identify 1–2 past customers (happy or lost).

Step 2: Reach out via phone, WhatsApp, or email and say:

“Hi [Name], I’m trying to improve how we serve clients. Would you be open to a short call to share your honest experience and decision-making process?”

Step 3: During the call, ask:

• What led you to start looking for a solution?
• What mattered most when choosing?
• What made you hesitate?
• What success looked like for you?

Record or take notes. Don’t sell — just listen.

Potential Challenges:

Low response rate.

Solution: Offer a thank-you gift (e.g., a voucher, free month, discount when asking for the interview).

 Measurable Metrics:

•  Number of interviews completed
• Number of quotes or themes discovered
• Improvement in clarity of customer messaging or email click-through rates

3. Build One Buyer Persona Based on Real Insights

 Timeframe: 1 Week

Key Takeaway:
Don’t guess — build one complete, insight-driven persona based on what real buyers actually said.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Summarize your interview(s) into 5 key “Rings of Insight”:

• Priority Initiatives: What triggered them to act?
• Success Factors: What outcomes were they hoping for?
• Perceived Barriers: What almost stopped them?
• Buyer’s Journey: How did they evaluate options?
• Decision Criteria: What made them say “yes”?

Step 2: Give your persona a name (e.g., Budget-Conscious Buyer) and list:

• Role/title, company size, tools they use, etc.
• 3–5 direct quotes per ring
• A short summary of their overall mindset

Step 3: Share the persona with your marketing/sales team.

Potential Challenges:

It’s tempting to include fluff.

Solution: Stick to what came out of buyer interviews — avoid assumptions or stereotypes.

Measurable Metrics:

• One buyer persona fully documented
•  Number of quotes included
•  % of team members who reviewed it
• Use in actual campaigns or content (Y/N)

4. Rewrite One Key Marketing Asset Using the Persona

 Timeframe: 3–4 Days

Key Takeaway:
Now that you know what your buyer actually cares about — rewrite your copy to match their goals, fears, and decision process.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Pick one asset — homepage, landing page, email, sales script, or ad.

Step 2: Identify 2–3 main buyer insights from your persona.

Step 3: Rewrite the content to:

• Start with what the buyer wants to achieve
• Reassure their objections
• Speak in their language (use their exact phrases if possible)

Instead of “Our AI system offers best-in-class analytics,”
Try: “We help you get answers in minutes — without needing a data science degree.”

 Potential Challenges:

Team resistance to new messaging.

Solution: A/B test the new copy versus the old and share results.

Measurable Metrics:

• Improved click-through rates
• Reduced bounce rate or unsubscribe rate
• Higher time on page or conversions

5. Map the Buyer Journey and Match Content to Each Stage

Timeframe: 1–2 Weeks

Key Takeaway:
Buyers move through a journey — from awareness to consideration to decision. You need content and messaging for each stage, not just the end.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Outline your typical buyer journey in 3–4 stages.

• What are they thinking/doing at each step?
• What questions do they have?

Step 2: Inventory your current content.

What content matches which stage?

Step 3: Identify gaps in your content (e.g., you may have a great product demo, but no early-stage blog posts or comparison guides).

Step 4: Plan 2–3 new content pieces to fill the gaps.

Potential Challenges:

Overthinking what to create.

Solution: Start small. One blog, one email series, one FAQ — that’s a win.

 Measurable Metrics:

• 
  Journey map created
• Number of content pieces created per stage
• Engagement metrics (clicks, downloads, demo requests)

6. Align Sales and Marketing Around the Persona

 Timeframe: 3–4 Weeks

Key Takeaway:
Buyer personas aren’t just for marketers — they should guide how sales people talk to leads. Your goal is to get everyone speaking the same buyer-centric language.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Share your buyer persona with the sales team.
Walk through the buyer’s pain points, journey, and success factors.

Step 2: Co-create a mini Sales Playbook:

• Questions reps can ask
• Key objections buyers raise
• Value messages that resonate
• Quotes they can reuse in calls

Step 3: Ask sales to use the insights in real conversations. Then debrief what worked and refine together.

Potential Challenges:

Sales team may be skeptical or too busy.

Solution: Highlight how these insights can shorten their sales cycle and reduce ghosting.

Measurable Metrics:

• Playbook created
• Number of salespeople using it
• Reduced sales cycle time
• Increased deal close rate or call-to-demo conversion

7. Use Buyer Personas to Influence Product Strategy

 Timeframe: Ongoing

Key Takeaway:
Buyer persona insights can uncover unmet needs and frustrations — gold for shaping product features or roadmap decisions.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Extract all quotes about what buyers:

• Struggled with in past solutions
• Loved or wished they had
• Expected from your product

Step 2: Share these with your product or dev team during roadmap discussions.

Step 3: Prioritize features that match real buyer needs (not just internal ideas).

 Potential Challenges:

Product team may be feature-focused, not insight-focused.

Solution: Bring in real buyer quotes — they’re hard to ignore.

Measurable Metrics:

• Number of product suggestions informed by persona
• Time saved avoiding irrelevant features
• Product adoption or feature usage increase