Persona Aha Moments!

?Midway through Customer Understanding Annette Franz's new book, she delves into empathy & personas. If you're looking for a primer or refresher on personas, check it out!

Personas can be powerful

I worked with a Pilates equipment company a few years back, and we developed personas including Sarah-the-soon-to-be-Instructor and did some journey mapping in advance of their CRM & ERP enterprise software project kick-off.

I sat through a few of the software discovery workshops, when a great moment happened. One of those proud momma moments! A cross-functional group was debating a current (convoluted) process & what their future state system requirements should be. Sales had a passionate point-of-view. Others debated the merits and reasoning less vehemently. Finally, the leader of finance who'd been quiet up to this point, banged his fist on the table & then simply said..."But what about Sarah?" The awkward hush descended! It's harder than it seems to keep the customer front-of-mind all the time.

Do you have a favorite Persona Aha Moment?

When you keep forgetting to be customer-focused

Yesterday I was in Newport Beach, and we incorporated one of our personas into a meeting. We had a chair at our conference room table with a table tent reserving the chair for '??????????????'. Yes, it can feel cheesy or contrived. But it can be a great visual prompt to remind us to apply a customer lens to the conversation we're about to have and the decisions we're about to make.

We use visual prompts all the time throughout daily life...a Fitbit to remember to take steps, a tracker to drink water, a post-it to remember to buy milk, or a smart phone reminder to make the dentist appointment. I move rings from my left hand to my right ? ?Ring on my right hand means to remember <...>?! Works for me every time!

Company lexicon

Bring your personas to life by actively incorporating them into conversations and decision making. Jeff Bezos' Customer Chair is a visually compelling way to get every meeting participant and every discussion to reference customers.

When you overhear other people in your company incorporating your version of Sarah into conversations, you'll begin to see the power of personas becoming ingrained in your company's lexicon.

Strengthening your own Customer Lens

We all have our default lens...our go-to. Maybe it's looking at issues, opportunities, investments, and decisions through a bottom-line lens or a top-line one. Maybe yours is an employee lens. They're all important! This week try to pick up a different lens in addition to your go-to. Look at that issue or opportunities from a different perspective. Be deliberate & intentional.

What do you see now that you hadn't considered before?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Living in San Diego, I am passionate about organizations maximizing their investments to deliver tremendous employee and customer experiences. With a background in Sales, Sales enablement, Go-to-Market strategy, CRM, ERP, and Customer Experience (CX) management consulting, I am passionate about working alongside customers to transform their organizations and realize their unique Experience Management (EX) goals. I have twice been recognized by International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) as a Top 50 Thought Leader. Connect with me on LinkedIn or join me on Twitter @JessicaJNoble.