“Buyer Personas” is it right for pharma

Just finished reading the book by Adele Revella, “Buyer Personas”: How to gain insights into your customer’s expectations. Align your marketing strategies and win more business. So naturally, I ask myself should big pharma be considering “Buyer Personas” as part of their strategic planning (if they are not already doing it)? Pharma talks about being “patient-centric” but do they really know their patients and healthcare “Buyers Personas”.

What do we mean by buyer persona?

• “Buyer Persona” is a new more personalized approach.
• The opening question is only one scripted question and it asks the buyer to go back when they first decided to look for a solution to their problem.

“Understanding the art and science of “Buyer Personas” is understand buying decisions and the people who make them” – Adele Revella author of “Buyer Personas”

“Companies involved need to listen to their buyers tell a story about a considered decision.”  – Adele Revella author of “Buyer Personas”

What does the information tell us about how a person makes a buying decision?

• Of limited interest to your audience is pharma promoting products, achievements, appearances at conferences and trade shows
• Marketers today need to become good listeners since the social media/tech savvy consumer today can now choose to listen to you or go somewhere else

According to Adele Revella – author of “Buyer Personas”, buying insights reveal:

Which buyers are receptive, and which will ignore you no matter what you say

Which aspects of your solution are relevant to them, and which are irrelevant

What attitudes prevent your buyers from considering your solutions

What resources your buyers trust as they evaluate their options

Which buyers are involved in the decision and how much influence they wield

Why include buyer persona as part of a general strategy?

• Listening to your buyers enables you to better understand today’s tech/social savvy consumer.
• Helps marketing and sales people to communicate more effectively with their buyers.
• Helps to build business relationships through engagement and the exchange of ideas.
• Helps internal stakeholders understand the what drives today’s informed and empowered “buyers”.

Who are pharma’s “Buyer Persona”?

• Anyone who is involved in the buying decision.
• Anyone who is involved in the decision-making process.
• Any influencer that had an effect on the choice of solutions.
• Any external factors that had an effect on their choices.

What kind of insight can be gained from “Buyer Persona”?

Getting messaging right

“When marketers have insight into their buyers expectations, they know which buyers their message needs to persuade and which of the many attributes of their solution are the most important to each buyer’s decision.

Armed with verbatim quotes describing how buyers weigh their options and make a choice, marketers can readily find the sweet spot between their buyer’s needs and their solution’s capabilities.”

Generating leads

“Marketers who have insight into their buyers priorities, expectations, and preferred resources know where their buyers are looking for guidance, the questions they are asking, and most critically, which answers they want to hear. “

Shortening the sales cycle

“Marketers who listen to buyers describe their buying decision have a chance to peer inside the inner workings of their companies, discovering issues and challenges that the buyer never reveals during an active sales situation.”