Persona Workshop & Customer Insight
Three structured workshops that align sales, marketing, product and service on who decides, what they care about at each stage, and which content they need — captured as personas your teams can use straight away.
Why B2B companies need personas now
No B2B purchase is one person's call. Forrester finds that purchase decisions in Asia Pacific involve a median of 8 people, and 47% of firms involve 10 or more — and procurement, engineering, users and management each care about different things.
Buyers also do their own homework: 6sense found they are about 70% through their journey before contacting a seller, and 81% already have a preferred vendor. Forrester reports that 86% of B2B purchases stall along the way.
Content written for one vague customer rarely reaches every member of the buying group at the stage where they are doing their own research.
The challenges we usually see
- Sales, marketing and product each hold a different picture of the customer
- Segmentation stops at industry or company size, without knowing who really drives the decision
- Lots of content, but no view of which pieces work at which stage, or where the gaps are
- SEO, SEM, social and sales material each go their own way instead of reinforcing each other
A persona workshop turns these scattered views into one shared, usable picture of the customer.
Our method: three structured workshops
Working with cross-functional teams — sales, marketing, product, service — we move through four steps, each with a clear output:
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01
Before the workshops: online pre-survey and agenda
Participants answer a short survey: their role, the customer types they deal with, and the most influential decision-makers they meet. From this we form initial persona hypotheses, choose the roles to focus on, and prepare persona canvases, journey templates and content matrices.
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02
Workshop 1: persona definition
Starting from why personas matter now, we map every role in the buying journey, decide which roles truly influence the decision, select the top two personas, and build their ID cards: demographics (industry, company type, seniority), behaviours (information sources, buying triggers) and perspectives (goals, concerns, success criteria).
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03
Workshop 2: customer journey mapping
Across awareness, consideration, decision and loyalty, we work through what each persona does, thinks and asks at each stage; their needs and actions; key touchpoints; pain points and friction; and the opportunities for you.
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04
Workshop 3: content preference
We turn insight into content direction: preferred content types and depth by stage, preferred formats (technical documents, case studies, videos, tools), preferred channels (online platforms, sales conversations, events), gaps versus existing material, and high-impact content opportunities.
Workshop format
- Participants: frontline colleagues from sales, marketing, product, technical support and customer service — ideally 8–15 per session
- Duration: one full day or two half days, to fit your team's schedule
- Format: on site, combining group exercises, sticky-note co-creation and team read-outs
- Language: Chinese or English, suited to mixed international teams
Project deliverables
After the workshops we deliver a persona report (PPT) including:
- A full customer journey map: behaviours, needs, touchpoints, pain points and opportunities by stage
- Two priority persona ID cards
- Best practices observed in competitors' most-read content
- Content needs and gaps by persona and journey stage
Several business units can each run their own workshops and receive their own report.
How personas feed marketing and sales
A persona is the starting point for everything that follows, not a report that sits in a folder:
- Search marketing: plan SEO and SEM keywords and landing pages around the real questions personas ask at each stage
- AI search: turn the questions personas ask AI into GEO prompts, so your brand appears in Doubao and DeepSeek answers
- Content planning: build a content calendar by persona and stage, and close the gaps
- Sales alignment: one shared customer language for pitches, proposals and training
What to have ready before we start
The better prepared you are, the more focused the workshops. Anything missing we can sort out together in the first call:
- Participants: who will attend from each team, plus one internal project owner
- Scope: the business units, product lines and target industries to cover
- Customer material: key accounts, CRM data or how sales describe customers today
- Existing content: website, product material, case studies, social and sales collateral
- Competitors: your main competitors, for content comparison
- Time and venue: possible dates, a meeting room, and whether to run in English
Key Data & Sources
| Data | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| People involved in B2B purchase decisions in APAC (median) / firms involving 10+ people | 8 / 47% | www.forrester.com |
| B2B purchases that stall during the buying process | 86% | www.forrester.com |
| Share of the journey done before buyers contact a seller / buyers with a preferred vendor at first contact | ~70% / 81% | www.demandgenreport.com |
FAQ
What's the difference between personas and customer segmentation?
Segmentation answers which companies you sell to — industry, size, region. Personas answer who inside those companies decides, what they care about and how they get information. B2B marketing needs both; personas shape your content and channels.
Who should attend the workshops?
Frontline colleagues from sales, marketing, product, technical support and customer service, since each sees the customer from a different angle. Around 8–15 people per session gives enough perspectives while keeping discussion efficient.
How long does it take?
The three workshops fit into one full day or two half days, with an online pre-survey beforehand and our report afterwards. The exact schedule is agreed at kickoff.
Can we do this without much customer data?
Yes. The workshops structure what your frontline teams already know about customers, and the pre-survey and exercises are themselves a way of gathering it. CRM data or customer interviews make the result stronger but aren't required.
How many personas does a B2B company need?
We usually recommend starting with the two personas that most influence decisions, developing them in depth and putting them to use, then adding other roles as the business expands.
Can the workshops run in English?
Yes. We often facilitate for mixed Chinese and international teams at multinationals — fully in English, fully in Chinese, or a mix — and can deliver the report in English.
How do personas feed into SEO, SEM and GEO?
The real questions each persona asks at each stage become SEO and SEM keywords and page plans, and GEO prompts for AI search; content preferences decide what to write, in which format, and where to publish.
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