B2BMX2018

A BRAND TRANSFORMATION PERSPECTIVE From Vulnerable to Advantaged Six types of personas on the road to customer-centricity 11 By adding the SiriusDecisions Competitive Analysis Model as an overlay to the personas typology, we augment the ways in which the typology helps buyers and users of personas. It allows buyers to diagnose where their current practices place them on the journey from product-centric to customer-centric models of the customer. Having that view can be powerful for highlighting the distance that still needs to be covered—and a path to get there. Further, the typology offers a caution for those who are currently using outdated or categorical perspectives in a world that is increasingly shifting towards customer-centricity as the source of competitive advantage. Those without a relevant and actionable model of the customer are more susceptible to disruption. In contrast, those who place a high degree of attention and investment into the quality of their view of customers are the ones who will have the opportunity to drive disruption in their industry. A multi-purpose resource on the road to customer-centricity This new typology of personas is a model that can be shared by cross-functional teams striving towards improvements in the ability to innovate, create differentiated customer experiences, fend off disruption and achieve growth by disrupting their own or some adjacent industry. It can be used by potential buyers of persona work to describe what they want and don't want in the scope of effort. It can be employed by users of personas to understand the resources and perspectives that went into their personas. And it can be used by fellow members of the professional community who believe in the power of personas to help "personas" from slipping into a discredited state. We hope this typology proves valuable and useful to you along your organization's journey to customer-centricity.

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