The 8 Buyer Personas (and How to Sell to Them)

A while ago at a conference I had dinner with two people. The first, (we'll call her Janine) I had known since we worked together six years earlier. The second person (Ed), Janine and I had just met.

Janine described a sales challenge she was facing. She'd been working with two prospects at two different organizations, one for over a year and one for almost two. The typical sales cycle is six to nine months, and these were both well beyond. She felt she was nearing a sale with both, but for all she knew, "nearing" might mean a year or two to go.

This is a fairly common sales challenge: the sale looks good, but it's taking forever. Janine happened to be facing two at the same time.

As we talked, I asked Janine a number of questions. She believed that in both situations the buyers:

• Were the decision makers
• Had the financial ability to buy
• Had a need
• Saw Janine's company as differentiated and the preferred solution
• Understood the business impact of buying from Janine to be substantial

Her typical sale is in the low-six figures and is highly technical in nature, and both of these sales were in the mid-six figures.