"a panel made only of enthusiasts is a mirror, not a rehearsal" is a good line, and one price point per question avoids a lot of anchoring mess. have you seen the panel raise an objection that real buyers never brought up at all?
Thanks, Praneet. Yes, in a sense. Synthetic panels tend to over-voice tidy, rational objections like integration effort, switching cost and security or compliance, plus price sensitivity, and some of those never come up with real buyers. I treat every panel objection as a hypothesis to probe in interviews, with prompts like "Tell me about the last time...", rather than as a finding. I also note what real buyers raise that the panel never did, such as internal politics, budget timing, an existing contract, or not prioritising it this quarter, and use that to tighten the personas. Which objection have you seen real buyers raise that surveys missed?