We’re going to talk about LinkedIn Sales Leads Personas. It’s how you get a clear vision into who you have to connect with in order to make your dreams a reality.

Essentially, we’re doing all this LinkedIn stuff for one reason: to make our life situations better in some way. And the secret to an improved life has always been the right people. It’s people that help us grow, get promoted and generally move up.

I know this from experience. As I shared in the last post when I was living in a roach motel and needed to improve my life, getting around the right people is what made all the difference.

So–give yourself a pat on the back–getting clear on understanding the people you want to connect with, will help you tackle the hardest part of this process in advance.

Let’s talk about it.

*Just so you know, this post comes with a free worksheet to help you go from Setup to Sales Call with LinkedIn. Get the accompanying worksheet here.

Understanding Your Ideal LinkedIn Sales Leads or Potential Customers

Answering the following questions will help you understand your best VIP or Lead, for the purpose for connecting on LinkedIn and beyond.

Remember, not all questions will matter for every person or business. Answer those that are most relevant for your situation and target market.

Another point: The purpose of answering these questions is to develop the best generalization of your target person possible. As Google Primer recently put it,

Personas are fictional profiles that represent groups of similar people in a target audience. They can help you figure out how to reach people on a more personal level, while delivering the right messages, offers, and products at the right time.

Demographics?

Is this person college-educated? Are they typically experienced in the role? How many years have they had in their role? Are they typically married? Are they typically single? And what sort of companies do they tend to work for?

Mannerism And Buzzwords?

What sort of personal quirks and qualities set them apart? Are there certain kinds of conversations they’ll regularly engage in? Are these people typically cynical? Do they like dressing up or dressing down for meetings?

Job Title And Seniority Level?

Depending on your individual goals for connecting, you’ll be targeting different sorts of people.

In my work, I’m sticking to the following levels: CXO or C-Level Execs, VP or Vice Presidents, and Directors. Directors, by the way, are traditionally the best group to target, driving up to 70 percent of LinkedIn deals.

Directors are also going to be your best bet for finding an “in” at any company because they are generally easier to reach than a vice president or C-level executive (CMO, CEO, etc.), however they still hold decision-making power.

Ask, “Which role oversees the sorts of work I’d like to do?”

Business Goals?

Last year, I’d worked with a video marketer who believed his greatest point of differentiation was understanding the business goals of marketing executives, his target customers. In his mind, other businesses in the video service world showed a lack of understanding when it came to customer business goals by

-Failing to…

-listen,

-express experience worth trusting

-understand a marketing department’s vision

-see themselves as a piece of a larger marketing strategy

Avoid this pitfall by writing up a few business goals your target lead has in mind. If you can, draw up their possible primary and secondary business goals.

What Do They Most Value About The Product/ Service You Offer/ Work You Do?

Another way to come at this is to ask how you help your desired VIP or lead.

What Experience Are They Looking For When Deciding To Buy Your Product?

Remember that similar products for similar uses might demand different buying experiences depending on the target customer.

For example, while individual marketers are accustomed to purchasing software online directly from the pricing table on a website, without talking to a single salesperson; a Director of Marketing at a large company purchasing software tends to expect a phone conversation with a salesperson in order to get a specific demo and quote reflecting her department’s needs.

Having Difficulty Answering These Questions?

The easiest way to get answers to these questions is to start connecting with these people. There are simple ways you can do that. You can try and call these people up on the phone, God forbid, and you can reach out via LinkedIn (as I’m helping you do). You might also check out forums that these people tend to frequent.

Just make sure you have something to go off of. You don’t want your imagination serving as 100 percent of your source material.

After The LinkedIn Sales Leads Persona: Creating A Journey And Empathy Map

The greatest asset one has in pursuing any endeavor is their time. And the best way to ensure your time is best used is to make a direct link between your social selling and your typical sales process.

So, what does your ideal customer’s journey look like?

Creating A Journey Map

This does not have to be complicated in the slightest. All you need to do here is create a numbered list of how a person typically learns and eventually chooses to buy your product.

Here’s an example, seeing how Isabella, the Director of Marketing for a large company comes to finally buy marketing software for her department:

Creating An Empathy Map

To create an empathy map, take the marketing persona you have created and place them in a hypothetical, yet common situation. Doing this, will help make the difference between an OK time and a remarkable purchase experience with your company. This is where great reviews come from: empathy.

Once you have this common situation or problem that your persona goes through, think up how you or your business might resolve this issue

Google Primer shares the following example for a fictitious pizzeria by a university:

Situation: “Alice needs to quickly and easily order 15 sandwiches and several side dishes because she and her classmates are studying for an incredibly important test.”

Resolution: “‘All Night Cram Special’—a bulk package of sandwiches and sides that busy and stressed study groups can order with one click.”

*Just so you know, this post comes with a free worksheet to help you go from Setup to Sales Call with LinkedIn. Get the accompanying worksheet here.