Alignment starts by matching marketing messages and sales conversations with the customer’s real-world situation – or scenario. An asset (or tool) that promotes alignment is the development of what we refer to as the Customer Scenarios Playbook.

Begin by creating a cross-functional team of people that include representatives from marketing and sales who are tasked to build the playbook. In addition, many companies have sales enablement and customer success departments who should also be represented.

There are a number of variables or factors to consider when identifying a customer’s real-world situation. The key is to identify the scenarios that are representative of your market. Then, based on the customer scenarios, develop a specific “play” (messaging and conversation) for each viable scenario. Your playbook can contain many different plays, much like the playbook for a professional sports team. In this way, you’ll have messaging that resonates and conversations that convert.

Now, let’s look at what can go into a playbook.

The first step is to identify the major variables that impact a customer’s scenario. In most cases, there are the following 4 major variables.

Customer Objective:

Decide if the objective is acquisition, retention, or expansion. Each one requires a different approach.

Associated Customer Buying Stages:

Research by Corporate Visions has documented there are distinct stages that customers progress through when making purchase decisions. These stages vary depending on whether the prospect is an acquisition, retention, or expansion customer.

Customer Segments:

An important part of any marketing and sales initiative is to identify the brand’s target audience – or ideal customer profile(s). An ideal customer profile includes geographic, demographic, and psychographic criteria. And a key component of your customer profile is to clearly articulate the customer’s pain point (issue; challenge; obstacle) that is preventing their success.

Customer Interaction Preference/Bias:

The best way to work with people is to treat them the way they prefer to be treated. The research conducted by Black Swan Group demonstrates there are three dominant tendencies (or biases) that people exhibit when interacting with others. They are:

• Bias for Perfection (facts, data, analysis)
• Bias for Relationship (mutual bonding)
• Bias for Action (mutual understanding and respect)

The next step is to develop the content (or the plays) based on the number of customer scenarios that have been identified by the combination of the variables.

Each play is customized to a specific customer scenario, explaining how your brand helps them overcome their obstacles and succeed. Each play details the specific messaging and conversation content required to influence their purchase decision in a way that is collaborative and, most importantly, friction-less.

The customer scenario playbook ensures marketing messages are reflected in conversations; and sales conversations are infused with messaging – within the appropriate context (scenario) of the customer.

This is the way you get alignment and bring clarity to your customers’ experience – build your desired brand image, increase sales and market share, and create long term competitive advantage.