For marketing leaders Helen Smith of Precision Proco and Katie Hart of The BoxMaker, the need to develop customer personas was born from a desire to better understand their ideal clients and deliver tailored outreach. During a collaborative Dscoop.com session in November 2024, the two marketers shared their experiences tackling this complex but rewarding task.
Helen, who is just beginning to craft personas for her organization, admitted that identifying key customer profiles had always been a challenge. “I know my ideal customer from a sector perspective,” she explained, “but what I don’t understand yet is who they are as individuals. My goal is to help our sales team target the right people with the right message at the right time.”
Katy, who has recently tackled persona development, related how personas had transformed her marketing and sales strategies at The BoxMaker. “Personas helped us coach our sales team to tailor conversations and avoid the one-size-fits-all pitch,” she said. “By identifying the unique priorities of different customer types — marketers, supply chain managers or operations staff — we empowered our team to connect more effectively.”
### The Building Blocks of Personas
Katy described her process of developing personas, which began with selecting five to six representative clients for each profile. Through interviews and open-ended questions, she gathered insights about each persona’s responsibilities, challenges, goals, and decision-making processes.
Helen said direct conversations with clients will be a key part of Precision Proco's strategy. “I’ve realized that customers often feel more comfortable giving candid feedback to a marketer than to their sales rep,” she noted. “These conversations provide invaluable insights that go beyond what a questionnaire or sales data could capture.”
Both marketers emphasized the importance of transforming insights into actionable tools. Katy's personas include quotes from client interviews and one-page summaries with details such as key responsibilities, trusted resources and decision-making criteria. Her team even created “power statements” to guide sales reps during meetings or email outreach.
Helen is working toward a similar outcome but acknowledged the potential for scope creep. “It’s easy to overthink and try to create the perfect ‘wedding cake’ version of personas. Instead, I’m focused on building a solid ‘cupcake’ version we can refine over time.”
### What Success Looks Like to Them
When asked what success looks like, Helen said it involves generating marketing-driven leads and aligning the sales and marketing teams. “I want our messaging to be clear and consistent, from the first email to direct conversations with the sales team,” she said.
Katy added that personas offer an unexpected benefit: clarity on which opportunities not to pursue. “Salespeople can get excited about every lead, but personas help them focus on the accounts that are most likely to convert.”
As both marketers work to refine their personas, they stress the importance of keeping them dynamic. Katy reflected on how changing technologies like AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping how customers find businesses, making regular updates to personas essential.
The session concluded with a focus on the collaborative nature of persona development.
“Personas aren’t just for marketers,” Helen said. “They’re a tool for aligning everyone — sales, marketing, and leadership — around a shared understanding of our customers. That’s how we drive success together.”
Katy agreed, adding, “Together is better. Personas are about building connections, not just with our customers but within our teams as well.”
