When a company buys something bigger than office pens, one person rarely decides alone. The head of finance looks at the cost, the IT administrator at security, the people who will use it every day at whether it makes their work easier. Sales and marketing teams describe these people with buyer personas: short portraits of a typical role, its goals, its pains and its doubts.
Three words come up in every task:
A goal is what someone wants to achieve: "We want every delivery to leave on time."
A pain is a problem they feel right now: "We type every order twice."
An objection is a reason they give for not buying, or not yet: "We have no budget this year."
The group of people involved in one purchase is called the buying committee (in marketing textbooks also the buying centre). A classic model from 1972 by Frederick Webster and Yoram Wind names users, influencers, buyers, deciders and gatekeepers. Sales teams today often add the champion and the blocker. This exercise uses six roles: decision maker, champion, influencer, user, gatekeeper and blocker.
All companies and people are invented. Start the exercise, work through the five tasks, and compare your answers with a partner afterwards.
Persona overview
Read this after the exercise, or use it as a cheat sheet in class.
Show the persona overview
Persona | Typical goal | Typical pain | Typical objection |
|---|---|---|---|
Head of finance | Predictable costs within budget | Many small invoices, no overview of spending | "No budget this year." |
IT administrator | Secure systems with little extra work | Too many tools to update and support | "Where is our data stored?" |
Operations manager | Faster, more reliable processes | Work stuck between teams and spreadsheets | "We cannot risk any downtime." |
Founder of a small company | Growth without running out of cash | Doing everything personally | "I have no time to set this up." |
Procurement manager | Good terms, a fair and documented choice | Offers that cannot be compared | "We need three offers first." |
HR manager | Hire good people and keep them | Slow hiring, staff leaving | "Our works council has to agree." |
Sales manager | Reach the revenue target | Too little time spent selling | "My team will not use another tool." |
Front desk employee | A calmer working day | Phones ringing nonstop | "The old way works fine." |
A works council is a body that represents employees in many European companies; in Germany it must be involved when a new tool can monitor employees' work. Real people do not always fit their persona. Treat a persona as a starting point for questions, never as a fixed label.
Teacher notes
How to run it (about 20 minutes)
Let learners do the five tasks alone (about 12 minutes), then compare in pairs (5 minutes) and discuss the questions below with the class.
To collect results, open "Use it with a class" on this page, copy the class link and read the result codes in the class results page.
Works well after the ICP lesson and before writing first outreach messages.
Common mistakes
Confusing champion and decision maker. The person who is most excited is often not the person who signs.
Thinking the procurement manager decides. In many companies procurement runs the process and negotiates terms, while a department head or the management decides what to buy.
Seeing every critical voice as a blocker. The IT provider asking about security is doing its job and is an influencer. It only becomes a blocker if it advises against the purchase.
Mixing up pains and objections. A pain is a problem the customer has without you; an objection is a doubt about buying from you.
Follow-up questions
Which persona would you write to first at Lamna Healthcare, and why?
How would your first sentence differ for the head of finance and for the operations manager?
Is it fair to describe people with personas? Where does a useful pattern turn into a stereotype?
Which roles in a buying committee could be the same person in a company with five employees?