Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is the human-level complement to the ICP’s company-level definition. Where the ICP says “we target Series A–B SaaS companies with 50–200 employees,” the persona says “within those companies, we’re talking to the VP of Sales — typically 35–45 years old, carrying a $3–5M quota, frustrated by SDR ramp time and attrition, and measured on meetings booked and opportunities created.”

The persona helps write better cold email and run better discovery calls because you’re writing and speaking to a specific person with specific frustrations, not an abstract demographic.

Components of a B2B buyer persona

• Title and function: What role do they hold, and what function do they own?
• Responsibilities: What are they trying to achieve? What KPIs do they own?
• Pain points: What problems in their day-to-day work create frustration or cost?
• Motivations: What would make them look good to their boss and team?
• Objections: What concerns will they raise when you pitch? Why might they say no?
• Communication preference: Do they respond to cold email? LinkedIn? Phone?
• Where they spend time: What communities, content sources, or events do they engage with?

Persona vs ICP

ICP is a company-level filter. Persona is a person-level filter within the companies that pass ICP. A company can have multiple personas — VP Sales and VP Marketing at the same company might both be legitimate targets for different products.

Related concepts

Personas inform cold email copy, discovery call scripts, and content strategy. They’re updated as you accumulate data from real conversations with prospects and customers.