Telling whether your client avatar holds, and when to split it in two
An avatar nobody tested is a wish list. Three tests to see whether yours holds, and the only criterion that justifies making it two.
Writing a client avatar is easy. Writing one that is any use is much harder, and nothing tells them apart on the page. Both fit on one sheet, both look reasonable.
The difference shows the moment you use it: sorting profiles, writing a message, deciding whether an opportunity deserves your time. There, one of them settles the question and the other invites debate.
An avatar that lets you exclude nobody is not an avatar, it is a description of your market.
Three tests, in this order
1. Can you name a hundred companies?
Take your avatar and try to write a list of seventy-five to a hundred real companies that match it, with a person's name each time. Not categories, names.
If you stall at fifteen, there are two explanations and you need to tell them apart. Either the avatar is too narrow and your target exists in a handful of copies, or it is too theoretical and you cannot recognise the people it describes. The second is more common, and easier to fix.
2. Does it exclude anyone?
Read each line and ask who it rules out. A growing company rules out nobody, everyone describes themselves as growing. Runs a sales team of three to fifteen immediately rules out teams of one and teams of fifty.
A line that rules nobody out costs nothing to write, which is exactly why it ends up in every avatar. Delete it, you will lose nothing.
3. Would someone else sort the same way?
Take ten profiles, hand them to someone along with your avatar and no other explanation, and ask for a yes or no on each. If you disagree on more than two, it is not that they read badly, it is that your criteria cannot be settled.
This is the most uncomfortable of the three and the most useful. It reveals that half of what you call a criterion is actually an instinct you apply without noticing.
| What cannot be settled | What can |
|---|---|
| A growing company | Hired at least two people this year |
| Cares about sales performance | Tracks a monthly numeric target |
| A modern outfit | Has used a CRM for over a year |
| Needs to sell better | Lost a deal to poor follow-up this quarter |
When to split, and when not to
The reflex, when an avatar does not fit everywhere, is to widen it. That is almost always the wrong answer: a widened avatar stops excluding, and falls straight back into the first failure.
The right question is not size, it is whether you are facing one problem or two.
Do not split
- Two industries, the same problem
- Two company sizes, the same objections
- Two job titles, the same trigger
- Two regions, the same vocabulary
Split in two
- Two different problems behind the purchase
- Objections that look nothing alike
- Different words for naming the same thing
- A trigger that does not arrive at the same moment
The deciding criterion is vocabulary. If two groups of customers describe their situation in different words, you will never write them the same message, and that is the definition of two avatars. If they use the same words, everything else is cosmetic.
And keep few. Two avatars kept current beat six ageing quietly, because each one demands its own criteria, messages and follow-ups.
How to tell it has aged
A correct avatar does not stay correct. Your offer changes, so does your market, and what triggered a purchase a year ago may have gone. Three signals, all visible in your calls.
- A new objection recurs. It was nowhere six months ago and now it lands in every meeting.
- The trigger changed. People no longer come for the same reason, even though they buy the same thing.
- Your best customers no longer look like your sheet. The strongest signal, and the easiest to ignore.
The third deserves a real check, once a quarter: take your last five signed customers, hold them against your avatar, and count how many genuinely fit. Below three out of five, your sheet describes a customer you no longer sell to.
Where Meidly helps
Your avatar is extracted from your calls rather than written from memory, so it starts from what people actually said. It updates as new calls arrive, and a freshness marker tells you when it has fallen behind them. Your targeting criteria and your messages follow from it, and are flagged for regeneration as soon as the avatar moves.
See how the client avatar works→In short
Test your avatar before using it: a hundred names, lines that exclude, and criteria a stranger settles the way you do. Do not widen it when it strains, split it, but only if the words differ. And revisit it every quarter against your last signed customers, because they are what says whether it still holds.
Frequently asked questions
How do you know if your client avatar is any good?
Three tests. Can you name seventy-five to a hundred real companies that match, with a person's name. Does each line exclude someone. And would someone else, given only your sheet, sort ten profiles the way you do. If it fails the third, your criteria are instincts.
How many client avatars should you have?
As few as possible, usually one or two. Each demands its own criteria, messages and follow-ups, so six avatars means six sets ageing quietly. Two kept current are worth more.
When should you split an avatar in two?
When two groups of customers describe their situation in different words, or when the buying trigger is not the same. Two industries or two company sizes justify nothing if the problem and the vocabulary are identical.
Should you widen an avatar that does not fit everywhere?
No, that is the most common trap. A widened avatar stops excluding, and an avatar that excludes nobody no longer lets you sort or write. Split it instead, or tighten it.
How often should a client avatar be updated?
A quarterly check is enough: take your last five signed customers and count how many genuinely fit the sheet. Below three out of five, it describes a customer you no longer sell to.