To B operations: 3 tables to build B-side user portraits

As long as your target users are B-side users, no matter you are in operations, marketing or sales, you need to have a clear understanding of the B-side user portrait, which will make your work more efficient.

However, many people have a vague and fragmented understanding of B-side user portraits, and even don’t know how to build B-side user portraits. Today I would like to share with you my insights on B-side user portraits.

01 Definition

I believe that the B-side user portrait is a portrait jointly constructed by the enterprise and multiple core roles. To build a B-side user portrait, three pieces of information are needed: enterprise information, role information, and user path.

You need to collect a large amount of information before you can refine the B-side user portrait based on this information. Before collecting, you must have a framework. You cannot collect for the sake of collecting, but to collect the most valuable information.

△ The framework of B-side user portrait

02 Company Information

Company information includes the industry it is in, staff size, business model (how it makes money), operation model (how the business operates), revenue scale (annual turnover), and similar products currently in use or have been used. As shown in Table 1.

This information can help you quickly locate target companies and make your work more targeted.

△Table 1 Company Information

03 Character Information

After you have collected company information, you need to collect role information. Which roles are valuable? The answer is that only roles in the decision-making chain are valuable.

Taking a certain SCRM software as an example, the starting price is 200,000 yuan/year, and its function is to help the marketing department improve marketing efficiency and performance. I want to sell this software to a certain company. First, I need to impress the company's marketing director, then convince the CEO and chairman, and then let the marketing staff experience it for free.

Then this decision-making chain includes the marketing director, CEO, chairman, and marketing department staff. As shown in Table 2.

△Table 2 Role information (example)

Once you’ve identified the roles, it’s important to understand their voice.

In this case, the marketing director is a key figure in the decision-making chain. If you get the extreme approval of the marketing director, the success rate will reach 70%. Because once he approves it, he will praise the software in front of the CEO, while the chairman will listen to the opinions of the CEO and the marketing director.

Why are the opinions of marketing staff important? Because they are the final users and the testers of the software, they can check whether the software is really applicable. Perhaps the marketing staff have no say before the company decides to purchase the software, but they have the greatest say when it comes to renewal.

After understanding the right to speak, I need to collect their respective characteristics, which will help me impress them when I talk to them. The main characteristics include their age, education level, and acceptance of new things.

△The picture comes from the Internet

04 User Path

The user path refers to every step a user goes through from the time they come into contact with you to the time they eventually leave you. If you don’t know what the links are, it is recommended that you talk more with customers or sales staff to sort out the user path. This is very important.

Throughout the entire path, there may be multiple roles involved, each with their own concerns and scene stories.

Taking a certain inventory management software as an example, it is aimed at small B merchants and is priced at 5,000 yuan per year. The decision-making chain of small B merchants is very short. Basically, the boss will look for software, and the boss decides whether to buy the software. The boss is the core figure or even the only figure in the decision-making chain.

So what steps does the boss go through from not knowing me to leaving me? There are seven main links, as shown in Table 3.

△ Table 3 User Path

After sorting out the user path, the matter is not over yet. We need to collect scenario stories under each path. These stories can help us understand users more deeply.

For example, Zhang San is the owner of a snack wholesale store. He has two employees in the store. The product information and customer information are all remembered in the employees' minds. An employee resigned last month, and work in the store became chaotic. (Generate demand)

When Zhang San went out to purchase goods, he saw that the upstream merchants were using a smart machine. Employees could print invoices without having to remember any information. The machine was very fast and the work was orderly. So I asked what this was, and the upstream merchant only told me the name. (I accidentally saw our product)

△The picture comes from the Internet

Zhang San searched online, found the manufacturer of the machine, and inquired about it for a long time. What are the functions? What problems can it solve? Is the performance stable? Is it easy to learn? Is it simple and easy to use? Is your company reliable? Do you have the technical ability? Do you have many customers? What is the price? (Weighing the pros and cons)

Zhang San discussed with his wife and felt that this machine could reduce dependence on people and they no longer had to worry about employees leaving. Zhang San decided to buy a set to try. (Decide to buy)

The manufacturer's salesperson came to install and debug the product, and taught Zhang San and his employees how to use it step by step. A WeChat group was set up, and Zhang San and his employees could post any questions they had in the group, and the manufacturer's salesperson would answer them immediately. Zhang San is very satisfied and keeps using it. (Use, Renew)

But later, as the business grew bigger, Zhang San had more new demands, and the manufacturer was unable to customize functions for him, so Zhang San turned to another product with more complete functions. (Lost)

The above is the scenario story. The scenario story of each path is different. Collect the scenario stories of every paying customer, and then extract the commonalities from these stories. This is a flesh-and-blood B-side user portrait.

05 Conclusion

In summary, if you need to build a B-side user portrait, you need to do the following 4 things:

1. Clarify target users (corporate information)

2. Clarify the decision-making chain (roles, voice, and basic characteristics of the decision-making chain)

3. Sort out user paths

4. Extract commonalities (scene stories)

Author: Xu Yingying

Source: Xu Yingying