A structured approach to understanding your buyer, from Modern.

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a guide from
BUYER PROFILES
A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BUYER

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CONTENTS
Introduction 03
About us 03
Why understanding your buyers is crucial 04
Multiple profiles 04
Getting the message right 05
Different profiles: company and buyer 05
The company profile 06
Ideal company profile 08
Company profile 08
The stakeholder profile 09
Ideal stakeholder profile 11
Making the most of the profiles 12
Further information 12

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INTRODUCTION
Leads, leads, leads: it’s what we all want. Leads are the lifeblood of B2B. Welcome
to our guide to understanding target companies and buyer profiles. This booklet is
intended to help you really understand who your target audience is and how they
behave, so that you can develop appropriate strategies as part of your marketing.
Creating target company and buyer profiles is a great way to:
» develop a clear picture of the kind of companies you are targeting
» understand the types of people you will be targeting within
those companies
» understand how to reach out to them
» understand what motivates your existing and potential buyers
» build a picture of buying cycles so you know when and what
to communicate
» understand what content or products are relevant to your audience
» understand which offers and promotions are suitable for your audience
assess potential leads quickly
As with all things related to business, the more you plan, the better the results.
It therefore pays to the take the time to think about who your audience is, what
you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. Knowing and understanding
who you’re targeting and how to talk to them will make closing sales much more
effective. More importantly, it will be a success.
ABOUT US
Modern works with numerous B2B clients, large and small. We’re experienced
technology marketers and specialise in digital communications, including content
strategy. This guide has been created to share some of our experiences with you.
We’d welcome the opportunity to show you how building up a clear picture of your
target companies and buyers will help you meet your business objectives.
Why not give us a call?
The Modern Media team
0117 332 6700

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WHY UNDERSTANDINGYOUR BUYER IS CRUCIAL
Leads, leads, leads: it’s what we all want. Leads are the lifeblood of B2B. In
business-to-business marketing, organisations now face a changing environment.
Budgets are being slashed, buying cycles are increasing and the types of buyers
likely to purchase are diversifying. It’s getting harder and harder to identify well
qualified prospects, making marketing and sales’ jobs harder.
Businesses need to recognise opportunities that they can quickly and easily close,
rather than spend time chasing prospects that don’t quite fit the bill. One way to
do this is to develop a thorough understanding of the types of business that will
use your product or service and then build up a profile of the buyers within that
business.
It only makes sense to target those that are the most attractive and easiest to win.
Therefore being armed with knowledge about your buyers is critical to effective
selling. It’s the job of marketing to identify those prospects and develop the
relationship, slowly moving them down the sales funnel. It’s then the job of sales to
close the deal. Both sales and marketing need to have a thorough understanding
and insight into the different buyer groups in order to increase sales rates.
By creating an accurate picture of your target companies and buyers, it becomes
easier to find them. You’ll have a better understanding of the media they consume
and what social channels they engage with. You’ll therefore know what channels to
exploit in your lead generation strategy.
MULTIPLE PROFILES
By undertaking this exercise, it’s likely that you’ll have multiple company profiles
because you offer different products or services. Likewise, within those companies,
you will have different stakeholders. Therefore you are likely to find that you have
multiple company and buyer profiles.

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An example might be a company that produces hardware for the testing of web
applications. They may typically sell to universities as well as to industry. In this
case, they would need to develop a company profile for each type of business
that they sell to and then buyer profiles for the individuals within those companies
or institutions. This is essential as a university professor will have very different
motivations and concerns than a software engineer working for a web
application agency.
Start with your best customers as you want to attract more business like them.
If you’re a start-up or in early life and developing your sales list or client base, then
use the knowledge acquired during your market research and proof of concept
phases to flesh out the profiles.
GETTING THE MESSAGE RIGHT
It’s important to know the factual information about your target companies and
buyers such as size, sector, location and infrastructure. This only tells you half
the picture though. Within an organisation there are many potential buyers and
influencers, each playing their part in the buying process and each having different
motivations and concerns.
Depending on who you’re targeting, your communication will be different. What’s
compelling for one group won’t be of interest to the other. By creating a picture
of the different buyers and influencers within an organisation, you can target the
message appropriately to the right individual which will lead to faster conversions.
DIFFERENT PROFILES: COMPANY AND BUYER
There are two main types of profile in business-to-business marketing. The first is
the company profile, where it’s important to build a thorough picture of the company
and factors, both internal and external, affecting it. Create a company profile for
each type of company you sell you.
The second type of profile is the buyer profile. As we’ve suggested above, there
are likely to be multiple stakeholders within an organisation. Some are purchase
decision makers, some are influencers and some are end users. Create a buyer
profile for each type of stakeholder.
In the following pages, you will find considerations for creating company and buyer
profiles, along with a form to capture the information you gather.

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THE COMPANY PROFILE
It’s important to know the factual information about your target companies and
The company profile allows sales and marketing to capture the most important
attributes about their best customers. These profiles don’t just look at demographic
considerations but also look further into how the organisation is run, its behaviour
and its current situation. These are far more influential in determining whether a
particular organisation is likely to be a good prospect.
Earlier, we mentioned creating a different company profile for the different types of
companies you sell to. It is also likely that you will require a company profile for each
of your product offerings as well. Not all companies will buy the same products from
you. Therefore its good practice to create a comprehensive target company profile
for each of your products, as well as the sectors you serve.
We recommend looking at the following factors when fleshing out your
company profiles:
STRUCTURAL FACTORS
Structural factors examine the way the prospect’s business is set up. Are they
centralised or decentralised? What life stage are they in? Are they growing, stable
or shrinking? Are they a local, national or international company? Are they heavily
unionised or non-union? Do they have a history of acquisitions or organic growth?
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Environmental factors are external to the prospect and relate to the market in which
they operate. Are they leaders or niche players? Do they set trends or follow them?
Is their market share growing? Are they affected by legislation or regulation? How
immune are they to market fluctuations?

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BEHAVIOURAL FACTORS
Behavioural factors look at the way an organisation makes decisions and
their management style. Do they have a top-down approach or collaborative
management style? Are they early adopters of technology? What other similar
products/systems have they bought in the past? What approval mechanisms do
they have in place? Is there a procurement process, if so what type?
SITUATIONAL FACTORS (ISSUES,TRENDS AND TRIGGER EVENTS)
Situational factors consider the timing of events. Looking at what has happened
in an organisation will show opportunities and threats. For example, has the
organisation recently been bought out? Has there been a change in management?
Have they been downsizing? Have they announced a new strategy or initiative?
Have they recently posted good or bad financials? Have there been any sudden
changes in their market?

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IDEAL COMPANY PROFILE
Demographics: Size
(No. employees, turnover, etc)
Demographics: Sector
(Industries, verticals, niches)
Demographics: Location
(Geography)
Life Stage and Growth Plans
Key Structural Factors:
Internal issues
Key Environmental Factors
(External issues)
Key Behavioural Factors
(How they make decisions,
How do they need to change)
Key Situational Factors
(Other issues not
mentioned elsewhere)
Company profile
Category Description

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THE STAKEHOLDER PROFILE
These profiles identify the key influencers and purchase decision makers within
an organisation. By anticipating their likely responsibilities, goals, motivations
and concerns, a thorough picture can be created. From there it is much easier
to anticipate issues or concerns and address them at the appropriate point within
the decision making cycle.
Each type of stakeholder will have a distinct profile. There will be similarities
between the different stakeholders, but there will also be core differences. Knowing
how to address those issues or concerns will result in faster conversions.
It’s worth noting that these profiles are an ‘average’ profile of the stakeholder. Not
everyone will conform to the traits outlined. These are simply the most common.
TYPES OF STAKEHOLDER
There are four types of stakeholders. These are as follows:
Operational Champion: the person that drives the project
Executive Sponsor: the person that is most likely to fund the project
Technical Gatekeeper: the person who has to approve your technology
Financial Gatekeeper: the person who approves financial and legal terms
The Operational Champion is the one who is most likely to gather information,
evaluate and propose your product. They are therefore, likely to be the most
influential stakeholder.
The Executive Sponsor is the one who makes the final purchase decision and
therefore your second most important stakeholder.
We would recommend that you start with these two stakeholders for your most
important services or products.

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When developing the profiles, we would recommend considering
the following factors:
TYPICAL JOB TITLE(S)
What are the job titles of this stakeholder? This is essential information
when compiling information for marketing campaigns.
REPORTS TO
Who is this person likely to report within the stakeholder’s organisation?
What is the chain of command?
TYPICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
What responsibilities does this stakeholder have? Which of these
responsibilities will be affected by your product or service’s solutions?
What problems does the stakeholder have that your product or service
will address?
TYPICAL GOALS
What are the typical goals and objectives of the stakeholder within
the organisation? What metrics are associated with those goals?
ROLE IN BUYING DECISION PROCESS
What role does this type of stakeholder typically play with regard to
the buying decision process for the product or service you’re selling?
ISSUES,TRENDS AND TRIGGER EVENTS
What are the key internal issues, external trends and specific trigger events
that are likely to influence their attitudes and/or behaviour? Consider this
specifically in relation to their role within the buying process and the types
of problems that your offering is intended to address.
TYPICAL MOTIVATIONS
Consider the factors that would cause the stakeholder to move the buying
decision process forwards. What would motivate them?

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TYPICAL CONCERNS
Consider the factors that would cause the stakeholder to want to slow down
or abandon the buying decision process.
WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
When considering the problem you’re trying to address with your products
or services, what would be a successful outcome, or what would a successful
outcome look like from the stakeholder’s perspective?
IDEAL STAKEHOLDER PROFILE
Typical Job Title
Typically Reports To
Typical Responsibilities
Typical Goals
(within business)
Typical Role in Buying
Decision Process
Typical Issues, Trends
and Trigger Events
Typical Motivations
Typical Concerns
What would success
look like for them?
Media (News, Blogs,
Trade publications)
Social Media Channels
Notes
Company profile
Stakeholder
Type (tick)
Operational
Champion
Executive
Sponsor
Technical
Gatekeeper
Financial
Gatekeeper
Other

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MAKING THE MOST OF THE PROFILES
By taking the time to develop your company and stakeholder profiles, you’ll
gather valuable insights into the best way to communicate at specific times during
the decision making process. Marketing will be able to identify prospects more
effectively and move them gently down the sales funnel with considered messages
so that they’re ready for sales to convert. Sales will be more knowledgeable on the
key concerns during the later stages of the sales process and be able to close
deals more effectively.
Overall, by completing these profiles you’ll be able to:
» inform marketing campaigns with accurate insights about
target companies
» identify which companies to target with communications
» create a sales qualification criteria for companies
» develop messages that resonant with the appropriate stakeholders
» develop sales tools that satisfy the informational needs of
key stakeholders
» identify goals, concerns and motivations during the buying decision
process for the key stakeholders
» pull in the data to your CRM system to make it easy to capture and
review these indicators.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information about building up buyer profiles for companies
or stakeholders, get in touch.

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info@modernb2b.co
modernb2b.co
0117 332 6700
BUYER PROFILES
A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BUYER