Meet Bill, he’s the owner and CEO of a growing, mid-sized manufacturing company. Bill is in his early 40s, wears glasses and tries his best to squeeze in an early-morning workout whenever he can. He prefers to wear golf shirts and khakis, donning a suit only when he has to. Bill drives a late model SUV with a booster seat in the back seat for his four-year-old daughter. He’s harried, and worries about managing his company’s growth. He wants to leverage technology to increase operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, and to offset the rising costs of doing business, but doesn’t know where to start.
Helen is his director of sales. She’s 32, single, a competitive runner, and is partial to 80s rock. She drives a new BMW convertible. She struggles with managing a dozen salespeople, many who are 10 to 15 years older then her. Helen wants the company to invest in a new CRM system to replace the contact management they long ago outgrew, but wonders how she’ll convince Bill and the company’s CFO to spend the money.
Bill and Helen are not real people, but they're examples of one of the most powerful tools you can use to better connect with prospects and customers: persona-based marketing.
Persona-based marketing is part Hollywood characterization and part business analytics. It involves constructing a fictional customer—based on real-life data and intelligence—and then using that character as the touchstone for promotional and selling decisions.
Persona-based marketing goes beyond simple demographic data
Persona-based marketing describes who a prospect or customer is, by also answering questions about their behavior such as: what keeps this person awake at night? How does he spend his time? How does she like to be sold to?
This concept can help you, as a business-to-business marketer by creating a vivid, tangible picture of your best prospects or customers, and then sculpting a marketing message that’s pertinent to their concerns, and move them to inquire and buy.
Let’s get back to the example of Bill and Helen. Say you’re a systems integrator who is targeting mid-sized companies like Bill’s. Using what you know about Bill as a representative of the typical business owner, you can make some tactical marketing decisions.
Because Bill is pressed for time, he probably won’t attend an all-day seminar, or an evening dinner meeting—he’s got family responsibilities after work. But he would be interested in a 45-minute, executive-level Web seminar he could attend from his desk. He might also say yes to an executive breakfast briefing with his peers from other local mid-sized firms.
This fictional CEO can even help guide decisions about minute matters such as brochure or Web site design. Because you know that Bill is over 40 and wears glasses, you’ll make sure that the font is big enough for him to read easily. And because you know he’s time-pressed, you’ll break down key messages into bullet points he can scan quickly.
Helen, your customer’s sales director surrogate, meanwhile, will respond to an offer that speaks to her needs. She might raise her hand to a half-day seminar on “convincing your CEO and CFO to invest in CRM.” She might also request a white paper on “How to get salespeople to use your new CRM system.” Because she’s younger and has upscale tastes, she’d probably attend a lunch seminar at the hot new bistro in town. She’s also more likely to notice an ad or seminar invitation or other promotional materials that are designed in a modern and colorful manner.
Granted, Bill and Helen are composite characters, not real people. But referring to them as you formulate and execute your messages can make your marketing more effective. And it can prevent your promotions from becoming too generic to be noticed. Performed correctly, your persona-based decisions will stop being about “I think” and start being about “what would our customer or prospect think?”
How do you get started?
1. Convene a group of employees who interact with your customers and prospects. Bring in lunch and a white board and ask them to help you build a persona for each of your target customers.
2. Start by describing the customer’s role in their company: CEO, CIO, CFO, COO, sales manager, purchasing agent, user, and any other important influencers.
3. Next describe the kind of company they work for. What industry is it in? How big is it? How up-to-date is it? Does it have a lot of competition?
4. Then describe the person and their behavior: Give each persona a name, a title, an age, and describe how he or she looks. How does he dress? What kind of car does she drive? What does he do in his free time? What kind of educational background does she have?
5. Flesh out as many attributes as you need to give a full, rounded picture of who this person is. Then, turn to your persona’s problems and goals.
6. Think about what does this person’s daily calendar look like? What are his or her most pressing concerns? What product or service attributes would be most helpful in solving this person’s problems? Is he or she looking to roll up 20 databases into one, getting ready for an IPO, dealing with a new competitor who has just entered the market?
7. Then, when formulating your marketing messages, think about what path this prospect or customer might pursue to solve this problem. Will he or she turn to white papers or articles in trade publications or Web sites? Would this customer or prospect seek input from a speaker at a networking group of their peers? Let the personas steer the route, which you can pave with information that can help your prospect and customers move forward in their consideration and buying process.
If you’ve never used person-based marketing before, give it a try. It can be a powerful way to focus your business-to-business marketing messages and offers, driving more leads and sales.
M. H. "Mac" McIntosh is a business-to-business marketing consultant and an expert on the subject of sales leads. He is president of Mac McIntosh Incorporated, a sales and marketing consulting firm specializing in helping companies generate qualified sales leads and turn them into sales. For more information, or to request a free subscription to his newsletter, Sales Lead Report®, please visit http://www.sales-lead-experts.com
Showing posts with label customer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer. Show all posts
Wednesday
Tuesday
Sales Lessons Learned From Watching The Apprentice
Watching the celebrity edition of the Apprentice on television proved to be far more than solely an entertaining experience. This reality show actually provided a healthy dose of business reality, demonstrating many valuable sales lessons that we can all benefit from.
Watching the celebrity edition of the Apprentice on television proved to be far more than solely an entertaining experience.
Knowing in advance that Gene Simmons, the brains behind the KISS phenomenon and the self-proclaimed god of women, would take episodal charge over the female celebrity group, I could not resist watching. Frankly, I was somewhat surprised at what transpired during the hour. The Donald had no choice but to fire him. He failed at his task.
This reality show actually provided a healthy dose of business reality, demonstrating many valuable sales lessons that we can all benefit from.
1. Know Your Goal Before You Begin Taking Action.
Gene errantly delegated the initial responsibility of meeting with the client to two team members. If instead, everyone on his team, including himself, were present, he would have benefited from the perspectives of each as they moved towards satisfying their customer and the sales goal that they had in mind. The women who met with the Kodak executives failed to listen carefully and fully grasp the desired intent and goals of their customer.
Simmons, as their leader, never knew what his customer actually wanted as he was too busy constructing a campaign that he thought was important and relevant. He was too busy marketing Kodak that he failed to consider their desired goals and product emphasis, their new ink. In fact, he did not see the importance of meeting with his customer and clearly understanding their perspective and goals.
2. Understand Your Task.
We must listen and pay attention to our customers. They will tell us exactly what they want if we ask them. Ask clarifying questions until you are crystal clear on their goals. Gene neither had a grasp of their true task or even the name of the product. His project was doomed early on.
3. Listen Carefully to Those You Have Teamed With.
Your sales team is a valuable asset. Their thoughts, evaluations and conclusions are important and should be respected with regard to the decision-making process.
4. Keep Focused.
Once you have a clear understanding of your customers needs, adopt a laser-like focus until the job is done. If an activity is not relevant to the desired outcome, it is likely an activity that is hindering your progress. Stay on task.
5. Remember: The Customer is Always Right.
The customer expects us to work on his behalf. If we make assumptions and suppositions based upon our desires, they may not be in-sync with what our customer is expecting of us. Simmons ignored his customer altogether, focusing instead on his own ego and creative ideas. While his marketing was impressive, his strategy and sense of purpose were flawed. He continued acting upon what he wanted for himself, not the desires of his client.
It does not matter if we think we are smarter, better equipped or more experienced than our customer. If we lose sight of their business and what they want, we lose; period. "You cannot hit a target you cannot see". You cannot ask relevant questions if you do not listen. And... you cannot satisfy the needs of your customers if you do not know what they need.
Thanks Gene, these are indeed valuable lessons learned.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Sitter, author of both Learning For Profit and Superior Selling Skills Mastery, has garnered extensive experience in sales, training, marketing and personal development spanning a successful 26 year sales career. Experience his resourceful blog at Idea-Sellers
Watching the celebrity edition of the Apprentice on television proved to be far more than solely an entertaining experience.
Knowing in advance that Gene Simmons, the brains behind the KISS phenomenon and the self-proclaimed god of women, would take episodal charge over the female celebrity group, I could not resist watching. Frankly, I was somewhat surprised at what transpired during the hour. The Donald had no choice but to fire him. He failed at his task.
This reality show actually provided a healthy dose of business reality, demonstrating many valuable sales lessons that we can all benefit from.
1. Know Your Goal Before You Begin Taking Action.
Gene errantly delegated the initial responsibility of meeting with the client to two team members. If instead, everyone on his team, including himself, were present, he would have benefited from the perspectives of each as they moved towards satisfying their customer and the sales goal that they had in mind. The women who met with the Kodak executives failed to listen carefully and fully grasp the desired intent and goals of their customer.
Simmons, as their leader, never knew what his customer actually wanted as he was too busy constructing a campaign that he thought was important and relevant. He was too busy marketing Kodak that he failed to consider their desired goals and product emphasis, their new ink. In fact, he did not see the importance of meeting with his customer and clearly understanding their perspective and goals.
2. Understand Your Task.
We must listen and pay attention to our customers. They will tell us exactly what they want if we ask them. Ask clarifying questions until you are crystal clear on their goals. Gene neither had a grasp of their true task or even the name of the product. His project was doomed early on.
3. Listen Carefully to Those You Have Teamed With.
Your sales team is a valuable asset. Their thoughts, evaluations and conclusions are important and should be respected with regard to the decision-making process.
4. Keep Focused.
Once you have a clear understanding of your customers needs, adopt a laser-like focus until the job is done. If an activity is not relevant to the desired outcome, it is likely an activity that is hindering your progress. Stay on task.
5. Remember: The Customer is Always Right.
The customer expects us to work on his behalf. If we make assumptions and suppositions based upon our desires, they may not be in-sync with what our customer is expecting of us. Simmons ignored his customer altogether, focusing instead on his own ego and creative ideas. While his marketing was impressive, his strategy and sense of purpose were flawed. He continued acting upon what he wanted for himself, not the desires of his client.
It does not matter if we think we are smarter, better equipped or more experienced than our customer. If we lose sight of their business and what they want, we lose; period. "You cannot hit a target you cannot see". You cannot ask relevant questions if you do not listen. And... you cannot satisfy the needs of your customers if you do not know what they need.
Thanks Gene, these are indeed valuable lessons learned.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Sitter, author of both Learning For Profit and Superior Selling Skills Mastery, has garnered extensive experience in sales, training, marketing and personal development spanning a successful 26 year sales career. Experience his resourceful blog at Idea-Sellers
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