To create a product that must satisfy a diverse audience of users, logic might tell you to make its functionality as broad as possible to accommodate the most people.  This logic, however, is flawed.  The best way to successfully accommodate a variety of users is to design for specific types of individuals with specific need.

The key to this approach is to first choose the right individuals to design for – users whose needs best represent the needs of a large set of key constituents. Then prioritize these individuals so that the needs of the most important users are met without compromising our ability to meet the needs of secondary users.

Personas provide a powerful tool for communicating about different types of users and their needs and then deciding which users are the most important to target in the design of form and behavior.

I spend time with the Business Development Representatives in the ISDC Salt Lake City office to help gather information and define the outbound BDR persona.  I met with 6 Business Development Reps one BDR manager. A group of this size is a sufficient sample size to inform us about the goals and frustrations in the BDR role.

Some additional shots and clips of our research statistics: