#5 - Customer First - The Special Needs Mom

When starting this exercise of customer first.  You need to imagine a single customer to represent a target audience.  In this case, I chose a special needs mom.  As it so happens, there is a woman who offers herself up as an advocate for other like her and she is based in Arizona, USA.  Its not always that when you find an image of your customer but you also learn about them from their own description but since the web allows so much information to be shared it is now possible to include customer voice in this exercise.  I chose this type of customer as my sister, Lainie, classifies herself as an "extra needs" mom.  They are a group of women who mother children of their own or through adoption who have a diagnosed or undiagnosed medical or physical condition which may need more care and attention to do tasks that others consider common and everyday. With a blend of how this woman describes herself and my knowledge of my own sister's lifestyle, I can create a profile which in the end should inspire ideas of products/services and experiences that may find her being a customer.

Name: Suzanne
Place: Arizona, USA
Family Status: Married, 2 children

She is a devoted mother and wife.  She left behind career opportunities to serve family and community.  She is a leader and activist who helps others in similar situations.  She devotes time to being an active educator on special needs issues and does volunteer work.  She writes a blog and maintains a facebook page so she is active on social media and is aware of local and national issues with regards to children's issues.  Since she is an advocate she is also an influencer in her social circles.

Products she might like to use are:

Apps that enable learning and skill development for kids with special needs like those found at http://blog.momswithapps.com/apps-for-special-needs/ like those that improve fine motor skills, enhance speech, motivate, offer visual communication tools and interaction.

Also, products invented by other parents with special needs like these unique mobility devices, drool proof clothing, safer sleeping aids and look-alike dolls.

Services she might favor:

Accessibilty travel planning services to advise where and how to travel to destinations which cater to those with special needs.

Animal-assisted therapy sessions which are proven beneficial to stimulating growth and development of children with special needs.

Experiences she might like to enjoy:

Taking an online course at FND University which offers courses for parents to train and prepare for the special needs gifts and challenges.

Planning her own vacation that is adapted to their family by discovering all the camps that are open and inviting.


This exercise gets you to think like a customer who while you might not know personally you can relate to  through associations you have with people of a similar profile.