The sales team has noticed that the people at the table are different from those a few years ago. Questions are less about technical details and more often about return on investment, risk, or implementation. Presentations that worked well for the original target audience now seem to assume too much prior knowledge on the part of new decision-makers. The website contains extensive information for users, but hardly anything for the person who ultimately approves the budget. As a result, salespeople are increasingly tailoring their pitch depending on who they’re dealing with.
First, we identify who is currently involved in the decision-making process and what role they play in the purchasing process. What do they need to understand, what are their concerns, and what arguments are relevant to them? In doing so, we also consider what the original target audience continues to need. After all, a new decision-maker does not automatically mean that the original target audience disappears.
Based on that, we structure the story so that sales and marketing can appeal to different audiences without having to create a completely new story for each target group. The core message remains the same, but the arguments, examples, and evidence are tailored to whoever needs to be convinced at that moment.
The person who uses the product, the person who manages the budget, and the person who ultimately approves it don’t automatically focus on the same things. The user wants to know if something works in practice. A manager might look at return on investment, risk, or the impact on the team. And the procurement team wants to know something else entirely.
If the communication is primarily written for the original target audience, the sales team has to adapt it anew during every conversation. This makes it more difficult to get the various stakeholders on board in the same buying process—not because the offer isn’t a good fit, but because each decision-maker needs a different part of the story.
