This has never seemed helpful to me—although I can see how people with a particular product might benefit.

I have blogged with no persona for two years and the people I now find following are people I would not have imagined. But they are youthful and fun, passionate and all over the world. 

I might be missing them if I had gone the persona route.

Love that serendipity. It exceeds my imagination.

I think it’s just not a good ideal that will only damage sales long term. Prior to my 11 years in eCommerce I spent 25 years in outside commission sales. 10 years was spent as a “Tin Man” and if anyone has seen the move it really understates the antics of “in-home” sales. If I didn’t leave the home with a contract (average sale was $3500) in 180 minutes, I walked out and never returned – no quotes. My last 3 years I closed 38% of anyone I made a presentation to.

From 1985-1995 I sat down at the kitchen tables of literally thousands of home owners from the whitest of white collars to the bluest of blue. I took formal training from some of the best like Tom Hopkins. The single biggest take away? BUYERS ARE LIARS!

Hypothetical: you get a new sky’s the limit credit card – You walk into Best Buy looking for a killer TV, the salesman asks “can I help you” and you say “no, just looking” and the lies begin. 
Yes we can identify the spending habits of our customer and offer “personalized” recommendations but if you think but if you think you can post up some identifying factors to paint the picture of your customer it will always be off.
The problem with establishing a “persona” is that people buy on emotion and then rationalize their purchase with logic thus trying to “logically” move through the sales cycle can  cause you to easily miss their motivations to buy.

@rich-brooks I’m the discenting voice … Again. I’ve created a persona for my ideal client, one male and one female, Neal & Stephanie. I’ve fashioned them after my fav clients. They remind me what’s important to these types of clients, what I need to write and post about. If I didn’t think about these personas I would quickly get off track in my marketing efforts. Do I get clients like them? Sometimes but not as often as I’d like.

@Rich Brooks This study kind of dovetails with your research http://goo.gl/rE0X1

Hi Rich!  Here’s my 2 cents worth… 

In creating stakeholder engagement programs, the concept of a persona has been very useful for me.  I’m not necessarily using it to sell something as @mitch-rezman mentioned, but more to ensure that I address the issues that a particular group or client may be interested in.  

I find by having a persona, I can communicate more specifically, as opposed to having an idea in my head and wondering if I have addressed all the issues for each stakeholder we have.  As @judithgotwald noted, there is a serendipity in speaking your own voice (one to many) vs. having to craft a corporate voice for customers (many-as-one to many). 
So my take on how to respond to your question, @rich-brooks, is to start at my whiteboard and list who my customers/stakeholders are, and list as many things as I know about them demographically and psychographically. The more we know about who they are, the better we can appeal to what they need or want.  Whether you name them, as  @amyhallbiz has, is a matter of choice. It’s a matter of seeing your business through their eyes- how can you make their lives better?

And really, isn’t that what good business is about?

from what im gathering this PERSONA word  is an old old and    good  and  basic business idea…nothing new about it……but  im not sure the word  would  mean  much  outside the social media bubble….i do this persona thing  and am all for the idea  but i never heard  of the word used out here in my  world….which is  fine unless you are trying to  talk to a person outside your  world….  persona  already had a meaning outside of marketing……

also   doesnt  this  happen naturally   with an observant   focussed  business owner?    i wouldnt need help on this idea…its on my mind   all the time….whats  she like,  what does she  want, where else does she shop, what  colors is  she   buying…  etc etc  ….

also   if you  are  selling to  truckers one week and hairdressers  the next…how  do you  ever  come up with a persona?….

. this is an interesting  thread….thanks  rich…