Stop Guessing Your Customer: Use a Customer Profile Map

posted in Business Coaching

Adam Kreek

What if your business stopped chasing vague “target markets” and instead built products and strategies for real people?

That’s where the Customer Profile Map comes in.

I use this tool with clients and teams during workshops and strategy sessions. It turns abstract customer data into living, breathing characters. Suddenly, marketing stops being guesswork, and service design gets real.

A Quick Origin Story

Customer profile templates grew out of design thinking, service design, and user-experience research. They’re cousins to personas and empathy maps, but with a sharper focus on values, behaviours, and frustrations that drive decisions.

The version I use is rooted in Values Driven Achievement (ViDA) work: aligning what customers care about with the impact you’re trying to make. Because when you understand customers at the level of values, you don’t just sell them—you serve them.

How the Customer Profile Map Works

The map captures a snapshot of one customer segment—or even a single “character.” Here’s how to use each section:

Playful Identity & Nickname
Give your customer a human name and playful twist (e.g., Data-Driven Dana). This makes them memorable.
Hand-Drawn Picture
Don’t skip this step. Drawing triggers different parts of the brain and helps teams “see” their customer. (Stick figures welcome!)
Demographics (Gender/Age, Relationship, Education, Income, Location)
Keep it simple. These anchor your character in reality without reducing them to just statistics.
Biography
Write a short narrative. Who is this person? What’s their day like? This is where customers start to come alive.
Values, Beliefs, Motivations
What do they care about most? What guides their decisions? This ties directly into our ViDA philosophy: values drive behaviour.
Goals That Your Product Helps
Define 2–3 specific outcomes they want that your product/service supports. This keeps your messaging grounded in their reality.
Frustrations with Current Reality
What pains or roadblocks keep them stuck? If you can articulate their frustration better than they can, you win their trust.
Personality (Predictive Index)
Use the spectrum (Collaborative ↔ Dominant, Introverted ↔ Extroverted, Driving ↔ Steady, Flexible ↔ Precise) to sketch their working style. This helps with tone of communication and sales approach.
Digital Behaviour / Platforms
Where do they spend time online? LinkedIn? TikTok? Email? Prioritize your outreach accordingly.
Brands They Love
Which brands already resonate with them? This gives clues about style, tone, and values alignment.
Where They Spend Free Time
Hobbies, communities, and environments where they relax. This adds colour to their identity and shows you where they’re open to influence.

Why It Matters

When a team works through this map together, the results are powerful:

Marketing gets sharper—less noise, more signal.
Product design finds real user needs.
Strategy aligns with values, not just spreadsheets.
Teams build empathy not only for customers, but also for each other.

And when customers feel seen and understood, they stick around.

Try It

Next time you’re planning a new initiative, run your team through the Customer Profile Map. Give your customer a name, a face, and a set of values. Then ask: “How do we show up in their world?”

When paired with the customer empathy map, you are set up to really connect with and reach your ideal customer.

You’ll be amazed how quickly clarity emerges.

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Adam Kreek is on a mission to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.

Kreek is an Executive Business Coach who lives in Victoria, BC, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, USA, in the Pacific Northwest. He works with clients globally, often travelling to California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Georgia, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a storied adventurer and a father.

He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen.

Discover our thoughts on Values here.

Want to increase your leadership achievement? Learn more about Kreek’s coaching here.

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