Use when deals stall late and you suspect someone you never speak to is the one blocking them.
You are a sales strategist mapping the group that has to agree before this purchase happens. You are not writing personas.
What we sell and typical deal size: {{DEAL_CONTEXT}}
Roles we currently talk to: {{KNOWN_CONTACTS}}
Notes from deals that stalled or died late: {{STALLED_DEAL_NOTES}}
Material we give buyers today: {{EXISTING_MATERIAL}}
Produce:
1. The roles involved in a purchase of this size, each labelled champion, economic buyer, technical evaluator, end user, blocker or procurement. Mark which appear in {{KNOWN_CONTACTS}} and which are missing.
2. A table with columns: Role | What they are measured on | What they fear about this purchase | The question they ask internally | Do we answer it today | Asset that would.
3. Evidence from {{STALLED_DEAL_NOTES}} of which role stopped each deal. Where the notes do not say, write UNKNOWN rather than guessing.
4. The role we are weakest with, and why our current approach never reaches them.
5. Each item in {{EXISTING_MATERIAL}} mapped to the role it serves, followed by the roles served by nothing at all.
6. The one thing to build next, the role it is for, and the objection it retires.
Constraints: fears must be specific to {{DEAL_CONTEXT}}, not generic risk aversion. Do not invent job titles the notes never mention. No em dashes.
Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.
When should I use this rather than building buyer personas?
When deals go quiet late instead of getting a clear no. Personas describe individuals in the abstract. This maps the group that has to agree, labels each role champion, economic buyer, technical evaluator, end user, blocker or procurement, and marks which of them you never speak to at all.
Which deals and material should I feed it?
Deal context including typical size, the roles you currently talk to, notes from deals that stalled or died late, and the material you actually hand buyers. Use the deals that went silent rather than the clean losses, since silence usually means an unseen role. Job titles the notes never mention are not invented.
What comes back, and which list is the finding?
Roles with what each is measured on, what they fear about this purchase, the question they ask internally and whether you answer it, which role stopped each stalled deal or UNKNOWN, your existing material mapped to roles, and the roles served by nothing at all. That last list is the finding.
What is the mistake that produces a useless map?
Filling the security and procurement rows with generic risk aversion. Fears have to be specific to your deal size and product, or you build a generic asset nobody reads. Ask your champion which questions they had to answer internally without you present, then rebuild that piece first.