In its most basic form, a buyer persona is a fictional, generalised representation of your ideal customers.
They help you to understand your customers (and, importantly, your prospective customers) better, making it easier for you to tailor content to specific needs, behaviours and concerns of different groups.
Buyer personas are a company-wide tool, of particular use to anyone engaged with marketing, customer service and sales efforts.
There has long been a difficulty in getting marketing and sales teams to come together and share insights, ideas and results. Buyer personas are a great way of unifying both teams’ focus as well as their communication and reporting methods.
For sales it’s important that they recognise who they’re supposed to be targeting as an ideal, suitable customer, personas also help to unveil how these customers prefer to be communicated with - allowing sales to have a better first impression.
Well-structured persona profiles can also reveal the common misconceptions and ‘barriers’ that a persona might have towards your services/company.
As outlined in the BPI’s guidance, buyer persona profiles should consider these 5 elements:
1. Priority Initiatives
What causes certain buyers to invest in solutions like yours, and what is different about those satisfied with the status quo?
2. Success Factors
What operational or personal results does your buyer persona expect to achieve by purchasing this solution?
3. Perceived Barriers
What concerns cause your buyer to believe that your solution or company is not their best option?
4. Buyer’s Journey
This insight reveals details about who and what impacts your buyer as they evaluate their options and select one.
5. Decision Criteria
Which aspects of the competing products, services, solutions or company does your buyer perceive as most critical, and what are their expectations for each?
All of these factors can play a substantial part in how your sales team communicates with potential contacts and can outline sales pitches.
Did you know we offer a buyer personas workshop for your whole organisation? It’s a creative, thought-provoking session that allows your team to best understand your ideal customers.
