Craig Klein/CEO, SalesNexus.com
Peter Drucker was known to say, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
Marketers have used the concept of “personas” for years. The idea is to create virtual customer profiles to represent your target customers. Sketches of their traits, including demographics, likes and dislikes, needs and objectives.
These personas are very helpful in clearly visualizing the customer you’re speaking to in greater detail. Developing strong marketing campaigns, headlines and calls to action is made much easier when it’s clear who you’re talking to.
A business might develop multiple personas for each product they offer and for each specific market they target and then develop specific advertising and marketing campaigns for each persona, in each market.
A web site might ask you to identify yourself on the home page by offering several options – “If you’re an executive in a public company, click here.” Or “If you own a small business, click here.”
This allows the website to provide the information that match the visitor’s specific interests and needs based on the persona the business has developed and to offer products specifically designed for their needs and budget.
Sales people, on the other hand, are trained from cradle to grave to treat each potential customer as special, unique and equally valuable. In fact, the concept of what is commonly known as “consultative selling” is to ask numerous questions and essentially build a customized persona for each and every customer so that the benefits and features of the product or service can be communicated to the customer in terms that best highlight their value to that customer.
But, in a world where customers find you on the Internet, when they need you, time is of the essence. They often have their own list of specific questions about your product or service and don’t have the time to explain themselves to the sales person. They are also aware there are several competitors just a click away.
That’s why a sales person can be greatly served by understanding the profiles of the most valuable or common personas their company targets. Understanding those generalized customer profiles allows the sales person to quickly categorize the customer and provide information in the proper context, by asking 2 or 3 simple questions right up front.
Often, asking a customer some basic demographic questions lets the sales person know which products and services are even an option for the customer and thereby quickly get them the information that will be most useful.
Of course, in some cases, the customer will warrant and want more in depth discussion of their specific situation. But, all too often, sales people spend too much time with prospects that can’t afford or don’t want their products or services. Using personas can help a sales person quickly qualify or dis-qualify prospects and maximize time spent with the most valuable prospects and customers.
A simple question about the customer’s industry could quickly determine whether the prospect should be quickly put on an automated email marketing campaign or a sizable sales opportunity should be created in the CRM software to add it to the sales forecast and on-going sales planning.
The trick is in developing your personas in enough detail. Can you truly visualize this prototypical customer? Can you see where they live? Can you see what they drive? Where they went to school? What keeps them up at night? Where do they see themselves in 5 years?
There may be a large number of similarities in your various personas but, going the through the exercise of “drawing” them clearly can help identify which characteristics tend to indicate the need, or lack of need, for specific products or services.
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Craig is the founder of SalesNexus.com. For more information visit www.SalesNexus.com
