B2B buyer personas and how they can help streamline your marketing and sales process

Contributor: Lisa Day
1 hour ago
4 min read

A B2B persona helps you understand companies’ decision makers so you can target your message to the person who will actually buy

By Lisa Day / Jessica Alex Marketing Editorial Team

You’ve created your ideal customer profile, so you know what type of company your business needs to target in order to generate sales, but who at that company is the actual decision maker?

Because that’s the person who you will need to connect with That is the person who will decide if your product or service will help them solve their company’s problems.

So how do you find that person?

You start by creating a business-to-business (B2B) buyer persona.

What is a B2B business buyer persona?

A B2B persona is a one-pager that documents a fictitious (or semi-fictitious) person who works at the company you have identified as your ideal customer. This fictitious person understands why your product or service will help them reach their goals. They are also the person who plays a pivotal role in the decision to purchase your product or service.

B2B personas are different from business-to-consumer (B2C) buyer personas. B2B personas are used to help business owners drill down the characteristics of their ideal customer and help you understand your decision maker’s pain points and how your product or service will solve those challenges. A B2C persona includes personal details such as number of children, hobbies and job information.

What information should a B2B persona include?

B2B personas should be detailed and include the following information:

Job title and description. What is the title of the person who has the buying power? What do they do?
Responsibilities and goals. What drives them? How do they view success on a personal and professional level? What’s holding them back from reaching their goals? How does your product and service help them reach these goals?
Pain points. What challenges do they face in their current job that your product or service will solve?
Decision making. Where do they get their information? How do they make decisions? What is the chain of command for decision making?
Drivers. What are they looking for in a product and service. What are their needs? How loyal are they to a company?

What shouldn’t a B2B persona include?

Names and pictures are not necessary for your B2B persona. Adding personal details such as education level or hobbies and interests is also not necessary for a B2B persona. The main objective is focusing on who is the person (or people) making the decisions and how will your products and services help them.

How many B2B personas should you create?

You should create one persona for every decision maker who will benefit from your products and services. For instance, if one of your products benefits two decision makers at the same company, then you should create a B2B persona for both.

But be aware: having too many B2B personas will decrease the likeliness of you actually using them. So be strategic and intentional with the personas you’re creating.

How do B2B personas help?

B2B personas help every part of your sales funnel. By understanding how your product and services help a specific decision maker, you can create target messaging that offers solutions to their pain points.

Those who don’t use business personas are winging it, sharing messages and information to people who aren’t the decision makers or who aren’t helped by the products or services you are offering.

Should you update your B2B personas?

Yes. Much like your ideal customer profile, you should update your B2B persona as products and services change or as the companies evolve. B2B personas need to reflect who is buying and what challenges you are currently solving.

Quote: You should update your B2B persona as products and services change or as the companies evolve. B2B personas need to reflect who is buying and what challenges you are currently solving.

Who in your company should be aware of your B2B persona?

Everyone in your company should understand your B2B personas and how your products and services offer solutions to challenges.

How do you get data for your B2B personas?

Interview current clients. Learn why they chose your product and service. What did they like about it? How did they hear about it? What challenges did they have and how did your product or service solve it? Why do they keep using your products? Why did they choose you over other companies? What pain points did you solve that others didn’t?
Interview referrals. Connect with people who reached out through social media, contact form or from other customers.
Interview customers who didn’t complete the sales funnel. Why didn’t they buy from you? What stopped them from choosing your products and services? What problems didn’t you solve?
Mine your data. Find patterns through surveys and support tickets. Use social listening. Cold call potential customers. Look at your competition to see what they are doing that you aren’t.

Before connecting with people, make sure they know you are not trying to sell them anything, but are instead gathering information. Decide if you want to offer an incentive and have your interview questions ready. Don’t forget to send a personal thank you note after.

B2B personas shouldn’t include gut feelings or guesses. Information included in a B2B persona must have data to back it up.

What should the B2B persona look like?

It should be easy to read. Each B2B persona should be no more than one page in length.

What is the worst thing you can do with a B2B persona?

Leave it in a drawer and never use it again. B2B personas need to evolve as your business does. Messages may need to be reworked as products and services change or your customers change.

What can you do with a B2B persona?

Create customized content on social media and blogs.
Use formats that you know your customers want, such as videos or white papers.
Segment emails and target advertising.

What is a negative buyer persona?

A negative buyer persona is also a fictional (or semi-fictional) person, but in this case it’s the person you don’t want to target as they are unlikely to purchase from you. Creating a negative persona allows you to understand the B2B customer who is looking for deep discounts or something for free, is high maintenance, or who is a poor fit.