First and foremost, it is essential to understand the concept of persona. Here is a quick definition:
“Created by an American computer scientist in the late 1990s as part of the design and development of software that takes into account certain characteristics related to the end user, the persona is, in the field of marketing, a fictional person representing a segment or target group, and more specifically ideal customers.(source: e-marketing.fr)
As you will have understood, a persona is a detailed representation of an ideal customer or customer group. Creating this type of profile should not be left to chance. There is no point relying on the information you find on Google, which is mainly B2C-oriented, far too general, and sorely lacking in detail. Let'stake a look at a practical and effective way to create useful personas that will help you sell more.
1) Define your priority sales targets
First and foremost, you must have a clear and precise vision of your market. If this is not the case, it is better to do a marketing study preliminary step. It will enable you to start off on a solid footing. This work is also an opportunity to streamline an overly scattered business strategy, for example.
The type of questions to ask yourself for your segmentation:
- Which sectors do I sell to? Which sectors do I want to sell to?
- Which ones are the most profitable today? And tomorrow?
- In these markets, what type of target companies should I approach?
- Who are my business contacts in these companies?
- If there are several, who is the point of entry? The decision maker?
Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, but it gives you an initial overview of the strategic thinking that needs to be done beforehand.
2) Select "core target" profiles and involve sales representatives
Theoretically, you should now have a list of several profiles in mind: buyer at an automotive equipment manufacturer, manager of a small business specializing in metal fabrication, head of a small electronics design office... In short, you get the idea.
To obtain a high-quality persona (i.e., one that has commercial value), it is necessary to go into detail and explore certain points in depth. Trying to cover ten profiles in the first few working sessions would be a mistake. You would risk demotivating your salespeople (too much information kills information) and building a marketing strategy that makes no sense. It is therefore essential to choose only two or three personas to start with.
Finally, to be truly relevant, your persona must reflect the realities on the ground. Creating a fictional profile based on your ideal customer (one who raises few objections, is willing to pay more for additional services, etc.) is pointless. To avoid this bias, conducting qualitative research will be useful. You will also need your sales force. They are the ones who collect intangible data on the aspirations and constraints of prospects. Involving them in the project from the outset also helps them to better embrace the tool later on.
3) Establish your concerns during the decision-making cycle
You are all sitting around the table—the CEO, sales representatives, marketing manager—looking at the two profiles you have selected. So, what do you do now? To begin with, you can determine the sociodemographic characteristics of your personas: age, socio-professional category, level of education, etc. Don't go too far; the idea is mainly to help you picture a person who could be real.
Next, define their position within the company: does this person manage a team? Are they a decision-maker? Are they based at headquarters or in a subsidiary? Are they at the beginning or end of their career?
Finally, and this is probably what will take you the most time, try to identify their concerns based on the decision cycle. To help you understand, here is an example:
AWARENESS PHASE
- What issues does he face?
- What are his "pain points," his frustrations?
- How mature is he? Is he truly aware of the issues?
CONSIDERATION PHASE
- What options are available to solve this problem?
- What changes and adjustments do they entail?
- Has he already tried to implement these solutions?
CONVERSION PHASE
- What solution do we want to offer him?
- What are the intrinsic performance characteristics of the solution?
- What sets it apart from its competitors?
4) Enrich the persona profile with their habits, aspirations, etc.
Finally, it is useful to consider more "marketing" characteristics such as: professional reading habits (does this persona spend a lot of time on the web? If so, on which sites?), Google search queries, magazines/newsletters to which they may subscribe, trade shows they may attend, etc.
These elements, which may seem trivial to you, are a gold mine when it comes to implementing a marketing action plan. They enable you to allocate budgets to the most effective channels andachieve maximum ROI.
