Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 3 of Six.

In this article, Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 3 of Six, we break down path 3 of the six paths framework.
Path 3: Look Across the Chain of Buyers
In most marketing and sales training, you are prompted to develop a buyer persona. The buyer persona will be focused on your opinion or history of who purchases your offering. In the absence of other processes, this a great exercise. Some businesses resist strategic thought about buyer personas.

Blue Ocean Strategy invites the participant to broaden the definition of the buyer.

As a sole proprietor, small business owner, or division leader, there are more possible definitions of buyer than you may realize. When Joann K, a distiller with a growing spirits brand seeks to sell her products to Walmart, she has to sell first to a buyer like Kelvin R, a liquor distributor in Kentucky. He is the one that buys her product and secures placement in Walmart for Joann K, who is one of his suppliers. He has to close that sale with the buyer at Walmart. That buyer’s concerns are governed by price, financing terms, delivery, and supply chain issues. The customer who buys from Walmart is a buyer that ultimately accounts for depletion and necessary reorders of the liquor but their concerns are secondary to the liquor distributor.

Joann has to consider all three buyers as she creates her product. Design, distribution, price, and all other features of the Buyer Utility Map have to be considered.