On this episode, we’re joined by Seth Waite, Partner at Schaefer, the buyer psychology firm that helps brands understand why people actually buy. Seth has spent his career building, advising, and investing in businesses at the intersection of CPG, ecommerce, and analytics, with a deep focus on turning consumer insight into commercial clarity.
Seth breaks down how Schaefer approaches buyer research, why brands routinely misdiagnose demand, and the lies teams tell themselves about customer behavior. He introduces the single highest-leverage question a brand can ask to uncover true motivation and walks through Schaefer’s core frameworks, including the Kingpin Strategy and the Why People Buy Pyramid.
We also get into the Marketing Efficiency Paradox, why functional benefits alone rarely create durable advantage, and how brands accidentally make shoppers do the work through over-messaging and feature overload. Seth brings the theory to life with real-world examples, from kale at Pizza Hut buffets to what French’s Mustard teaches us about focus, meaning, and growth across DTC and retail.
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Episode Highlights:
🧠 How Schaefer studies buyer psychology
❌ The lies brands tell themselves about why customers buy
❓ The highest-leverage question in consumer research
🎳 The Kingpin Strategy and why focus beats expansion
📉 The Marketing Efficiency Paradox
🔺 The Why People Buy Pyramid
🥬 Kale at Pizza Hut buffets and what it proves
🛒 Why brands shouldn’t make shoppers do the work
🟡 Lessons from French’s Mustard
🏬 DTC vs. retail: what actually changes
📦 Why “functional” is rarely enough
🔮 Trends and brands Seth is watching
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Table of Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:47 - Schaefer breakdown
07:08 - Lies that brands tell themselves about why customers buy
09:20 - The highest leverage question a brand can ask
13:11 - The Kingpin Strategy
17:18 - The Marketing Efficiency Paradox
19:58 - The Why People Buy Pyramid
28:54 - Kale at Pizza Hut buffets and beyond
30:31 - Don’t make shoppers do the work
33:25 - What we can learn from French’s Mustard
37:42 - DTC vs Retail
42:43 - Functional this, functional that
45:00 - Brands and trends Seth is watching
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Links:
Schaefer - https://schaefer.co/
Why People Buy - https://whypeoplebuy.com/
Follow Seth on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethwaite
Follow me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/
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