How you identify your customers is probably not how they identify themselves.
While tools like buyer personas and ideal customer profiles (ICP) can be helpful shorthands, they’re incomplete and often based on stereotypes.
When relied on too much, they can become barriers to truly seeing, understanding, and connecting with your customers as whole people, in addition to barriers preventing your customers from finding and connecting with you.
Just as the map is not the territory, your customer personas and ICPs are not your customers.
Don’t let them become a barrier to better understanding, connecting with, and earning the trust of those you seek to serve or those who might be seeking your solutions.
