Developing Personas to Maximize Revenue: A SWIMA Event Recap

Have you ever wondered what your customers are thinking? At SMHeuristics, we don’t just wonder. We know.

By conducting a persona study (at any level), it becomes easier to imagine what your customers are thinking, what their purchasing decisions looks like, and what their pain points are.

During the Southwestern Idaho Manufacturing Alliance’s (SWIMA’s) quarterly meeting this August, SMHeuristics co-founder Nic Kawaguchi illustrated how important this process can be for boosting sales.

In his presentation, Nic helped audience members discover ways to better understand how their customers and clients make decisions. He talked about the importance of persona research, how to engage customers when creating a persona study, and how to create your own persona theory. This information is invaluable to businesses in the manufacturing industry.

At SWIMA’s lunch and learn event the following week, Nic spoke more in depth about the persona study development process — even demonstrating to business owners how to create their own.

Here are some highlights:

• One of the most important first steps in creating a persona is making sure you ask the right questions in your interview(s).

• During the event, Nic suggested: “Every time we help our customers write out questions, we always go back and assess — is this going to achieve goals or is this out of focus?” Making sure your questions align with the goals of your persona study (without them being leading questions) is a bit tricky but a vital part of the process.

• After you’ve aligned the questions with your goals, it is important to always be on the lookout for patterns when developing a persona. As you complete the interviews and compile the data, patterns will begin to emerge, and these will be your little gold nuggets when constructing the full persona.

Outlining every detail on how to conduct a persona study would essentially be a scientific paper that few would be willing to read, Nic offered this piece of advice on tackling your persona positioning data: “Don’t get analysis paralysis. Stay focused, remember your goals, and just power through it.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a lunch and learn if we didn’t mention the delicious spread we got to share with fellow SWIMA members — Nic ordered Hawaiian food from Rillz Manapua, which has become a favorite at the SMH office.

We’d also like to thank SWIMA for hosting SMHeuristics at these two educational events. We have enjoyed contributing to and learning from this organization as they advocate for manufacturers in our community.

If you’d like to know more about how SMHeuristics can help your business with market research and persona development, contact us.

Giving Back, Looking Forward

Did you have an opportunity to give back this holiday season? Maybe you made a donation to a local nonprofit, sponsored a family for Christmas, or served dinner at a local soup kitchen. If so, you probably experienced the joy that comes when you give from the heart, without promise of payback or reward.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” —Winston Churchill

But while most people tend to think more about giving back during the holidays, the nonprofits in our community work hard all year — and therefore need support year round. As 2019 comes to a close, we at SMHeuristics are taking a little time to reflect on a few of the organizations that are making a positive impact in our community 365 days a year, and whom we are honored to continue supporting in 2020.

United Way of Treasure Valley

In August, we discussed our give-back initiatives on the SMH blog, and shared photos of a few members of our team attending the 12th Annual United Way of Treasure Valley Flapjack Feed. The event consistently raises funds for local families in need, and we joined several hundred volunteers in assembling necessity kits for school kids lacking personal care products like deodorant, toothbrushes, shampoo, and other items.

But the Flapjack Feed is just one example of many events and programs the United Way of Treasure Valley supports. They also fund dozens of other agencies and programs within our community, such as the Idaho Foodbank’s School Pantry and the Women’s and Children’s Alliance’s Safe and Secure Shelter, among others.

Get involved: The United Way of Treasure Valley welcomes volunteers, donations, and support with their advocacy efforts. Corporate groups also do much to further the reach of this nationwide nonprofit. Contact United Way TV If your company would like to support their work.

Veteran Entrepreneur Alliance

Our reasons for supporting the Veteran Entrepreneur Alliance run deep. SMHeuristics co-founder and CEO Derik Ellis served in the US Air Force for a number of years — and knows firsthand the challenges veterans face when reentering the workforce or starting their own businesses.

The Veteran Entrepreneur Alliance provides much-needed resources and support for those seeking to integrate themselves into the business community — through skill training, professional development, and access to year-round activities and opportunities.

Get Involved: The Veteran Entrepreneur Alliance is always looking to expand their membership, so if you or someone you know is a vet who would benefit from their services, you can join here. Like many nonprofits, the VEA also relies heavily on the generosity of its donors. You can set up a recurring or one-time donation here.

Treasure Valley YMCA

Through its many adult and youth programs, the Treasure Valley YMCA focuses on “strengthening the foundations of community by developing successful youth, engaging people in healthy living, and instilling a commitment to social responsibility.”

The Y’s community collaborations, which include Make a Splash and Safe Routes to School, are far-reaching and impactful for children both across the country and in the Treasure Valley.

Get Involved: The Treasure Valley YMCA offers several opportunities for community members who want to offer their support. For starters, you can donate, volunteer, sponsor a program, attend an event, and/or be an advocate.

As we head into 2020, SMHeuristics is looking forward to the new opportunities headed our way, both professionally and in terms of how we give back to our community. We hope you’ll join us in supporting one of the above organizations or any of the other 6,000+ nonprofits that call Idaho home.

Cheers to a successful and generous new year!

Our PPE Story: Building a Life-Saving Supply Chain

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” —Lee Iacocca, Ford Motor Company

It’s undeniable that our nation and our world are experiencing a time of “great stress and adversity,” one that hasn’t been experienced on such a global scale in decades.

In professional communities all over, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted both the foundation and the structure of many businesses, including our own. This pandemic has made a major impact on the economy at large and on our customers — which has also impacted us as a self-funded startup in Boise, Idaho.

Despite uncertainty, however, the desire to serve is in our DNA. As a veteran-owned company made up of entrepreneurs and go-getters, we were compelled to put our “energy into something positive.”

Making a Difference in the Age of COVID-19

Specifically, as the projected nationwide shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) came to light, we recognized we were in a unique position to help overcome this challenge — and to make a difference — both in our state and throughout the country. How?

Starting in 2018, SMHeuristics expanded our company with brokerage and import/export services to bridge US companies and customers with opportunities in Asia. (The brokerage bridges our go-to-market services and product import and export services for Idaho companies that want to work in Asia and vice versa.)

Over the past two years, we’ve established trusted partnerships with world-renowned organizations and respected leaders within the biomedical industry, both in the U.S. and in Asia — several of which manufacture and distribute the very medical supplies of which our country finds itself in dire need. Developing these relationships has meant multiple trips to Asia, during which we visited our partners in the healthcare, manufacturing, and high tech industries. One such visit, during Governor Little’s official trade mission to Taiwan last October, demonstrated to both local and international officials (as well as Idaho delegates) the value and importance of creating and fostering these connections.

So, with these connections in place, our team came together and took immediate action. Within three weeks, SMHeuristics expanded our business to become a certified importer of PPE and other needed medical supplies (you can find us listed on the United Nations’ PPE Import Directory). In this short time, we have established a complete, international supply chain path for distribution — directly to the doorsteps of hospitals in Idaho and other U.S. states.

To do this, we developed partnerships with Idaho freight companies, hired new members to join our team, and quickly learned to navigate the complex challenges of getting medical products from Asia to the U.S. Additionally, we continue to work closely with the FDA to ensure we meet all requirements and levels of compliance (we also have the necessary ISO and CE certifications). We have taken stringent measures to vet the manufacturers we are working with, and have even on-boarded a doctor to our global team who is helping us qualify all products we are importing into the United States.

With these measures in place, our small team has been able to achieve a Herculean task — quickly and without price gouging — all from our remote offices in Boise, Idaho. And, on Friday, April 10th, SMHeuristics delivered a shipment of over 500,000 masks to a healthcare provider in the state of Hawaii, a provider whose ecstatic medical team reaffirms why we do what we do: it’s all about people.

What This Means for Idaho (and Beyond)

Our team has been working around the clock over the past several weeks — talking to government leaders, community leaders, and hospitals to learn where their shortages are and help source their most needed supplies. We are working with a major Idaho hospital to coordinate shipments of PPE in the near future, with others on the way. We plan to continue sourcing necessary PPE products and building Idaho's stockpile as the need continues.

We have been contacted by governors’ offices and healthcare purchasers throughout the U.S. with the request to bring materials to other states.

These groups recognize that we have 1) successfully established a source of PPE through our partners and 2) created the necessary structure to get these supplies to local hospitals. During this crisis, we're maintaining our high standards — by sourcing ethically and maintaining quality assurance with the help of our team and partners. (In other words, we are not importing any products that are not FDA listed with the proper testing results and approvals.)

The Road Ahead

While SMHeuristics initially began operations as a bootstrapped, small Idaho business helping local companies with business development, channel development, and sales and marketing growth strategies, we are growing. And we are thankful to have spent time developing our brand and services in Asia over the previous few years, because this has laid the groundwork for us to serve a crucial need during a crisis of this scale.

We now find ourselves just behind the front lines of an ever-growing medical crisis, one that is likely to present significant challenges to our nation in the months ahead. And there’s nowhere we’d rather be.

At SMHeuristics, we appreciate the sacrifices being made by healthcare professionals around the globe who are working long hours to treat COVID-19 patients (while also tending to their own families). And we are proud to say we’re doing our part to provide these essential workers with the supplies they need as they care for the most vulnerable members of our respective communities.

Editor’s Note: We realize our own customers, fellow small business owners, and friends may be struggling at this time. If you are in need, we’re happy to help or to point you in the direction of resources that may help you get back on your feet. Don’t hesitate to reach out.