How Personas Can Help Sales and Marketing

Personas are powerful sales and marketing tools, and Bob Lancaster recently posted a helpful article How to Get Started with Persona-Based Marketing. Bob points to a new book by Ardath Albee eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. I’ve checked out the table of contents and I’ll be ordering it.

Albee notes that B2B personas are different from consumer personas. She says; ““Personal characteristics are important, but B2B personas must recognize that the prospect’s professional standing and priorities will hold additional sway over what catches his attention when it comes time to solve a business issue.”

Aye, that’s the rub. B2B personas are different from consumer personas. She gives some examples of persona categories:

1. Problems Needing to be Solved: These are problems that tend to remain on the forefront of their mind and possible pain points.
2. Current Environment: Are there any obstacles to taking action on purchasing our product? These may include political conditions, lack of consensus on how to fix a problem, budgetary constraints, etc.
3. Strategic Business and Career Goals: Are there viable business outcomes that achieve company goals? Also, will it help personal career advancement?
4. Preferences and Aversions: What is their predisposition or perspective to solving the problem? Do they favor opportunities or risk mitigation?
5. Competitive Considerations: Does our product help them differentiate their company from the competition? Does the solution create an advantage or make them equal to competitors?
6. Influencers: Who can influence the buying process? Colleagues, stakeholders, users, champions, consultants, external peers.

I developed a different slant on personas for a B2B client’s sales force, based on situational differences. They are:

1. Life or Death: If you don’t help me now with special service I’m as good as dead with my company.
2. Make my life easy: I’m stressed out- do your job for me so that I can focus on more critical parts of my job.
3. Make me look good: I need to look good to my boss. Help me solve some problems and look brilliant.
4. Give me a comfort zone: I want to feel that I am in control.
5. Just be around: I like having a real person call on me and care about me and my company.

As you can see, they describe a range of stress/emotion/panic from positive (”no problems-feeling good”) to negative (”the sky is falling”).

What role do personas play in your sales and marketing strategies?