How Can Buyer Personas Help Generate More Leads?

Has it ever taken you months to chase down the buyer you needed to complete the sale? Did you sit in on countless meetings and phone calls just to get that five minute exchange you needed from the start? I’m sure most of you, like me, have been in this position before—if not several times. Nothing is worse than running around in circles for months and being passed off from executive to executive.

Obtaining access to that ultimate decision maker has proven to be one of the biggest roadblocks to forming partnerships. Many of us have wasted valuable time and resources trying to get the desired target’s attention. There has to be a more efficient way—a way where you don’t have to waste so many resources.

Buyer personas can help you efficiently generate more leads. They help identify and directly target the industry professional you need to get in touch with and provide you with a roadmap of how to quickly get their attention. So what type of questions do you need to be asking yourself to create that effective buyer persona? Well, some include:

• What are the buyer’s key characteristics?
• What does your buyer’s online behaviour look like?
• Are the buyers directly involved in the company’s finances? Do they have influence?
• Does the buyer review a department’s current fiscal status frequently?
• What makes up the buyer’s purchase behaviour?
• What are the buyer’s goals or decision criteria?

Understanding these questions will help you more effectively target your decision maker at the beginning of the process. You will be able to gauge how to reach them more effectively and on a consistent basis: how they search for their information, which platforms they use to gain this information and what key criteria are most likely to influence their decision. Investing in additional research at the front end of the lead generation process to gain a greater understanding of your buyer will make an immense difference in your lead generation and conversion rates at the back end; all the while saving you time.

In the B2C environment, if you’re there at the right time, you may get the sale because of a consumer’s impulse decision. This type of situation is highly unlikely in the B2B environment because of the weight and significance of the purchase, hence, completing a buyer persona is even more crucial for a company’s sales success.

Have you created a buyer persona for your target audience?