CSO | Tony Zambito Founder of Buyer Personas and Buyer Insights Research

CSO

Nov 2020

Redefine Your Buyer Personas For A Winning Recovery In 2021

Some of our all-time favorite movies involve an actress or actor transforming into a character that made them entirely unrecognizable. Through the use of make-up, prosthetics, and costumes, an actor and actress can perform as a historical or fantastical figure. A most recent example is the 2019 movie, Judy. Which was about the life of the late actress and singer Judy Garland. Renee Zellweger portrayed Judy Garland and earned an Oscar from the Academy Awards for Best Actress. The movie also was nominated for Best Costume and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Zellweger’s transformation to look, act, and sound like Judy…

Article by Tony Zambito

Oct 2020

Reset Your Buyer Strategy In COVID-19 Revival

For many leaders in sales and marketing, the year 2020 will go down in history as one of the most challenging in their careers thus far. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic will represent the most significant disruption in B2B commerce in many decades. We are witnessing the greatest digital shift of work and commerce since the invention of the Internet. The renewed surges in the spread of the pandemic will raise further obstacles and questions as B2B businesses look ahead to 2021. Questions related to how to reset sales and marketing to a vastly different world from just one…

Article by Tony Zambito

Oct 2020

Why Buyer Interaction Design Matters During The Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic will leave an imprint on B2B commerce for decades to come. In what lasting ways remains to be seen. There will be permanent changes as well as evolutionary changes. What we know now is that traditional buyer-seller interaction is undergoing its most significant change yet in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic has set off a tectonic shift in how B2B companies buy from and sell to each other. According to a number of recent surveys, we are seeing an enormous shift in sales turning to remote selling. B2B buyers are also embracing the remote model of…

Article by Tony Zambito

Sep 2016

Confusing Customer Segmentation, Buyer Profiling, and Buyer Personas Harms Marketing

In the 15 years since originating the concept of buyer personas in 2001, there has been one issue that continues to plague fully understanding exactly where, how, and why buyer personas can be beneficial. Compounding the issue today is the prevalent use of the term buyer persona to describe customer segmentation and buyer profiling efforts. The issue I am referring to is the confusion that can surround distinguishing between customer segmentation, buyer profiling, and buyer personas today. If you are a CMO or a marketer and you find yourself having a sudden realization that perhaps you are not quite sure…

Article by Tony Zambito

Dec 2015

Buyer Decisions Are Not What You Think

When marketing and sales leaders often think about how buyers make decisions, they are viewed through a prism of buyers making rational and process-driven decisions. Leading to many strategies and tactics devoted to attempts to market or sell to the rationale behind decisions and buying processes. Of late, the term “buyer’s journey” has come into vogue. Essentially another name for mapping the buying process. It is yet another example, however, of the search to understand the process of decision-making. There is a significant problem with this prevalent perspective that exists in the world of marketing and sales: humans, thus buyers,…

Article by Tony Zambito

Dec 2015

State Of Buyer Personas 2016 Survey

This has been an eventful year. We are seeing continued growth in the adoption of buyer personas as a means for understanding buyers and customers. At the same time, the growth is fraught with the perils of buyer personas being misunderstood, mislabeled, and serving as a cover for basic buyer profiling. Each year, since originating the concept of buyer personas in 2001-2002, I have reflected and offered a perspective on the state of buyer personas. As in last year, I wish to incorporate the use of a survey to offer a comprehensive view of the state of buyer personas. This…

Article by Tony Zambito

Aug 2015

What CMOs Need To Know About Listening To The Customer

It is a generally accepted notion that listening is vital to having positive and healthy interpersonal relationships. Listening is an essential skill for leaders in business, politics, sports, and in many different aspects of culture and society. As a country, we have had many leaders rise to the occasion upon their ability to listen and connect with people and their causes. For CMOs today, listening to customers has become one of the key ingredients shaping their success in connecting brands with customers. Expanding the growth of their customer base is predicated, to a high degree, on having listening be an active…

Article by Tony Zambito

Sep 2014

The Importance of Understanding Context Before Jumping To Solutions

We cannot wait to offer solutions. We have the thirty-second elevator pitch, content marketing, presentations, lead generation, demand generation, sales training, and sales enablement. All designed to be proficient at offering solutions. Some companies can reach a fervent pitch with their marketing and sales in seeking to tell people or companies they have the solution. Sometimes we rush to provide a solution while at other times, we work on an effort with a potential customer crafting a solution over many months. What we can be convinced of is belief we have the right solution. Just what if? What if the…

Article by Tony Zambito

Mar 2014

D.I.V.E. Deeper: Getting The Most Out Of Your Buyer Personas

To get the most out of anything worthwhile takes persistence, perseverance, hard work, intuitiveness, and grit. It is advice we offer to our friends, family, and children. Often in helpful conversations with marketing and sales leaders, I usually am posed the question of how to get the most out of buyer personas. A common theme is many have invested in buyer personas but are not reaping perceived benefits. It is a perplexing dilemma for executives who have sponsored such efforts. Much of the disappointment comes from not attaining new revelations about buyers or as one executive put it to me…

Article by Tony Zambito

Mar 2014

Understanding Who Your Buyers Are Is Not Enough

“We need to know who our buyers are.” I hear this often today. From Chief Executive Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Operating Officers, and Chief Sales Officers, the confounding question of – Who are our buyers? – is asked repeatedly. Even in mature established B2B businesses, this question is often asked. In fact, more mature B2B organizations run the risk of realizing too late they have moved distantly away from their buyers. Like the frog that realizes much too late the water has reached boiling temperature. Guess Who As I have helped many B2B organizations in the past 15 years…

Article by Tony Zambito