Customer avatar

For my customer avatar, I created a pretty average-looking person. Because that’s the majority of people that hold my segment together! Many of the people I interviewed are family people, so as far as a car they’d drive, I’m thinking definitely an SUV or something life that. With dark colored interior show spills from kids don’t show up. Probably grey or another dark color for the outside too so if they get super busy with other aspects of their life, you can’t tell if it’s been a little bit since they washed the car. For hobbies, it’s probably something that can be done at night, after kids have gone to sleep or something relaxing from their day jobs, like reading, playing puzzles, or maybe a musical instrument. Also, my avatar is super likely to have a pet, and love it like it’s a member of the family and not just an animal. As mentioned, most people in the segment do have kids, but the ones that don’t are typically focusing on their career and have either pets, or large friend groups to keep them busy and occupied when they’re not working. They’re from all over the country and even the world, and have backgrounds ranging from only child to adopted and living with friends out of cars while road tripping across the country. The live a fast-paced life, but still need to fit in time for decompression and fun. The biggest thing about this segment is they are everyday people like you and me, and are every bit as unique as well.

Myself and the customer avatar have a very busy lifestyle in common. I have school and work and care a lot about helping out friends and travel most weekends, so I lead a very busy life like many of these family oriented people. Because of having this in common, I understood and shared a lot of their points of view and criteria for selecting and using a product that we discussed in earlier interviews. I don’t really think this is a coincidence, because most college kids ARE super busy, and need something quick and cheap that can fit their needs but still work well. 

What's your secret sauce?

1. Unique human capital?
1. I have no fear of living in a new place- I grew up a military brat and so for me, I have absolutely no hesitations in packing up and moving to a completely new place. I feel like this speaks to my general flexibility with situations and that I would have no issues making a move for a career or opportunity that some people would hold themselves back on. 
2. My conversational abilities- I genuinely enjoy getting to talk to and connect with people. I am the person who will go up to random strangers with no reason at all and strike up a conversation. This is actually how I met a few of my best friends. Putting yourself out there in front of people might feel scary at first, but you just have to remind yourself that at the end of the day, they’re a person just like you. 
3. I’m empathetic and can identify with people- My whole life, I’ve always felt empathy towards those who were struggling, as many people do. However, when it comes to my friends or family members, that empathy often translates into discussions about problematic situations. I’ve always been good about being able to put myself in someone else’s shoes and see both sides to a story, and this has helped me a lot in my major life decisions and personal relationships, even to the point where out of my friend group, I’m usually the one that gets called first to be asked for advice. 
4. Growing up an older sibling by a so many year gap- I have two younger siblings that are much younger than I am. Because of this, I often was another mom of sorts to them. This experience taught me so much responsibility, patience for dealing with people (young children are often hard to have patience with at times), and about how to nurture another person. People need care and love in order to develop their personalities and grow in general, and being the big sister helped me to understand that, and being so much older gave me the opportunity to really see how true that is and be able to apply it to my adult life. 
5. Having grandparents who are farmers- Even though I’ve moved around my whole life, I’m originally from western Kansas and my grandparents still live there and operate a farm that has been in the family for six generations. Most summers growing up and now on most school breaks, I go back and spend time at the farm helping out. This aspect of my life has taught me so much about the importance of hard work in all areas of your life. It’s taught me that even when things get rough, you still have to push through and do your best because something is always depending on you to do your job. It has taught me to be genuine, and to appreciate everyone because even if they’re not a CEO and you can see their work in the news, everyone has a role and no matter how behind-the-scenes it is, it plays a significant part. 
2. Interviews
1. I think the biggest thing I got from this interview was about my overall positivity and my willingness to help others. My flexibility was also mentioned here about how I don’t sweat the little things and don’t let the struggles get me down.https://sites.google.com/site/bloglinkpage/linking-it-up/For%20Chloe.m4a?attredirects=0&d=1
2. Intelligence is something an emphasis is put on here. She makes a nod to my book smarts as well as street smarts. Being a farm girl is something she brought up too, as well as my military background and ability to do things for myself. She even likened me to a female MacGyver, which I’m taking as a great compliment. https://sites.google.com/site/bloglinkpage/linking-it-up/Chloes%20Human%20Capital.m4a?attredirects=0&d=1
3. For this interview, my honesty is something that was really appreciated. With this particular friend especially, I'm always extremely honest in my advice and it's good to know that he sees that at face value and appreciated it.https://sites.google.com/site/bloglinkpage/linking-it-up/Things%20About%20Chloe.m4a?attredirects=0&d=1
4. In this interview, my willingness to go the extra mile and help out is something that she mentioned. Being hardworking but also being able to have fun is something that I try to strive for, so it's nice to hear that someone else sees.https://sites.google.com/site/bloglinkpage/linking-it-up/Chloe%20Interview.m4a?attredirects=0&d=1
5. This last interview was funny because my sister talked about how she's glad I don't rub it in her face when I know something she doesn't. Especially with my sister, I've always tried to be able to be a person she can count on and cheer her up, so for her to mention that in the recording makes me feel like a good sister. https://sites.google.com/site/bloglinkpage/linking-it-up/Chloes%20Recording.m4a?attredirects=0&d=1

1. Reflection on Differences

For the comparison on these interviews, a lot of the things I noticed about myself were mentioned, which I find to be very comforting. I strive to be a very authentic person in all aspects of my life, and I'm glad to know that why I try to be is carrying past just who I am when I'm alone. One aspect that got brought up that I didn't think too much about myself is intelligence. I'm going to chalk this up to the fact that a lot of college kids often feel discouraged by classes and don't feel overly intelligent at times, so it was definitely a good reminder to take notice of my smarts both inside and out of the classroom. I have really great friends and family who are amazing people, so a lot of the things said about me in the interviews I owe to having them in my life.

Figuring out buyer behavior no. 2

For the second portion of this exercise, in my interviews I focused on the alternatives people evaluate when looking at a product and what is ultimately the factor that leads to their final decision. The segment I chose from last week and the one I am still writing on this week focuses on people and the cleaning supplies/appliances that they buy for their homes. Last week all three of my interviewees were female, so this week I interviewed one female and two males. My first interview was with a woman named Mary-Ann, and when asked about the factors that she takes into consideration when buying her supplies, she listed about five things off the top of her head. As a mother of three, she said that she wants a product that is kid-friendly, and not too difficult to use so when they get older, she can teach the kids about chores and household cleaning. And example she gave when I asked her about the simple design was about a vacuum cleaner she just purchased that had one button for on and off, and was lightweight and easy to change directions when operating. Price was the second thing Mary-Ann listed, because she said that with children, always assume the product will end up breaking and you’ll need to buy a replacement. For my second interview, I spoke with a man named James. After talking with him for a while about his buying habits, he told me that his longtime girlfriend-turned fiancee usually did the picking out of their cleaning things because she has a particular style, and she wanted everything to go together. James mentioned that if he were picking anything out on his own, he might do a Google search for about ten minutes and then pick the cheapest thing with a rating of around three stars. For my final interview, I talked to a store worker named Marcus, who included many of the same reasons as the first two for what they look for in buying his products. 

For actually buying the items, all three of the people Interviewed said they are more likely to buy products online, because it’s easier to look up customer reviews and things like that. For my first two interviewees, they said they typically budget a purchase into their finances, while Marcus said he doesn’t plan that sort of thing too much. All three replied that people involved in the purchasing decision were either only themselves or their immediate family. When I asked Mary-Ann about how she gauged her purchase after the fact, she said as long at is works for a good while cleaning up after the kids, it was a good buy. The men gave replies along the lines of if a product works well for a period of time past what they think it should, then they’re happy that they got their money’s worth and don’t really care how it operates after that. As far as bad purchases go, the three said a purchase was bad if it broke, or if it wasn’t really as helpful as described to be (an example here given was about a dust collector to help clean blinds that actually ended up breaking the blinds rather than cleaning them). 

In my interviews, I’d say that all three people are fairly logical and price-conscious when choosing a product, and mainly care about the quality of the product rather than outward appearance or name brand. In general, I would describe this segment to be pretty savvy in therms of alternate evaluation. Nowadays, it’s so easy to compare product reviews and customer feedback online and choose the best product for your particular need. For purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation, I feel like this segment focuses more on hoe the product works compared to how it is advertised. For example, if something says it will make your carpet 75% whiter and then the product doesn’t actually produce a visible change, that would affect future purchase decision and cause a negative post-purchase evaluation. 

Halfway Reflection

1.) In order to keep up with this course, you really have to be self-disciplines. You need to set aside more time than you think it will take to do an assignment (because you WILL stumble across at least one that takes way longer than expected). Also look ahead to see what the next assignments are, so you can plan accordingly with your other classes.s

2.) A few times I’ve felt like giving up so far in this semester were usually when I was getting overwhelmed in all of my classes and I was having a hard time focusing on working with a business mindset and going out to interview people. What pulled me together and kept me going on track was thinking about how I may be overwhelmed in a certain moment, but if I were to just blow off all assignments, I would really be disappointed in myself later and my grades would suffer. Also, I wouldn’t get the most possible out of the course. I feel like I’m starting to develop a tenacious attitude, ad a lot of it is because of the interview portions of the assignments. In order to get what I need to complete the assignments, I really need to find out what people are thinking and cut around small talk in order to really find the right information. 

3.) Three tips:

-Ask the question. When in doubt, always ask the question you’re unsure of because it’ll probably help you out a lot in the long run. 

-Don’t worry about looking dumb, because most people are either going to be very receptive towards you, or be wishing they could be more tenacious like you.

-Practice being more confident in your personal life, and it will eventually carry over to your professional life as well. And always keep track of dates-planners and calendars can really be your best friend. Nothing messes up your confidence like showing up late.