The value of an effective customer profile should not be underestimated. In the same way that a brand can build a marketing persona, a customer profile can perform an essential function in the sales process. If you don't understand your target customer – really understand what makes them tick and why they care about what they care about – your sales process will be totally hit and miss. But good profiles are not only about your own sales efficiency, they generate the detail you need to offer that target customer more value. Here, as in all things, you can't win if your customer doesn't.
Here’s a simple but comprehensive template that works well for us.
The Census Form Details
Firstly, fill out the basic details:
- Are they male or female?
- How old are they?
- Where do they work?
Background
Next provide some background to build up a picture of this person and their circumstances at work:
- What is this person’s role in the company?
- Are they happily warming their seat, or are they looking to get the results that will get them a fast promotion?
- Do they have control over their department's budget?
Goals
Think about what specific outcomes this person is focussed on:
- Are they looking to lay solid long-term foundations at the company, or tracking short-term metrics?
- Do they have a manager or a board they need to please?
Identifiers
Identifiers concern how they like to go about things. Two people might have the same goal but have wildly different ideas about how it should be achieved.
- Are they traditionalists who have yet to embrace the use of data?
- Are they actively seeking to find tools to make their lives easier?
Challenges
Consider the generic challenges that this person would encounter on a day-to-day:
- Are they in a heavily siloed organisations where information is likely to get lost somewhere between HR and Project Management?
- Do they have a profusely results-driven boss?
Also consider any problems which are more specific to their role or their industry. If they’re a marketer, are they struggling to engage with a particular demographic?
Benefits
- What benefits does your product offer them specifically?
- Will you be helping them justify their decisions to superiors?
- WilL your product be streamlining their more cumbersome processes?
Sales Messaging
This needs to be a neat encapsulation of your product, ideally no longer than a sentence.
Pitch
Lastly, the old elevator pitch. What would your short, sharp sales pitch to this person be?
This template is the first step towards developing a customer profile that can drive efficiency and build loyalty through product value.
Your customers hold the key to greater success, so why not unlock that potential?
