Building Trust in the Sales Process using Buyer Persona Modes

How to use Buyer Persona Modes

Recently I explained how using buyer persona modes for sales and marketing strategy was like watching your favorite TV show series. You get to know and understand the characters by their mannerisms (ie: analytics, social media). You start to identify and empathize with them, even if they are a bad guy.

You start to see those characteristics in the people around you. If you are a Mad Men fan, you might say; "Oh, he is so Don Draper." Or if you are like me, a Dexter fan: "He's letting his inner monster out."

Getting inside the mindset of your customer works the same way. The context of their problem and your industry is a TV drama series, and there are roles and scenarios being played out. Buyer persona modes are a tool to help sales and marketing understand the customer and start to build trust. The most important things to remember about using buyer persona modes as the foundation of sales and marketing strategies:

1. People are dynamic, so should your buyer persona modes be. As you start interacting with prospects, customers, clients and partners, you should be updating your buyer persona modes (and subsequently, your sales and marketing strategy) based on what you have learned.
2. Not every one is your customer. Buyer persona modes are not one size fits all. If your business has a USP or UVP (unique selling proposition or unique VALUE proposition), then you should also have a unique buyer persona mode you operate from. Just because your competition does X, doesn't mean you should. Build your own sales and marketing best practices based on your buyer persona mode (s).
3. The purpose of a buyer persona mode is to help you build trust with your prospects and customers.

What Sales and Marketing Strategies Build Trust?

Everything is a process. How you get from point A to point B depends on what direction you are trying to go in. And really, if you are driving at night, or into unknown territory- how you get there is only going to be accurate for the first 200 feet in front of you. (that's how far ahead your headlights can reach).

But if you know your true north, your customer, then how you get there depends on how much trust are you able to build with your prospect and customer. Where you start from will determine the rest of the path.

What Inbound Networking is About at the Core

Building trust through real, but virtual relationships. At our last weekly online networking meeting, 4 thoughts emerged about building trust.

• Don Battis= what keywords are the ideal person for our company using in their buying process? Call it what they call it, speak a common language. Builds trust.

• Dale Berkibile= passion. Having the same passions is a commonality. Builds trust.

• John Beveridge= doing both offline and online. Make it real. Builds trust.

• Me=WOM= transfers trust.

How do you build trust?