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If You’re Targeting Too Many Personas, You’re Doing It Wrong

Why trying to speak to everyone leaves you sounding generic to everyone

Author

Alexander Shartsis
May 30, 2025

Early-stage outbound usually breaks for one of two reasons:

  • No one’s replying

  • Everyone’s replying—but none of them convert

If you’re in the second group, here’s the likely culprit:
You’re targeting too many personas.

Founders do this because it feels smart:

“We’re horizontal.”
“Our tool can help anyone in [X role].”
“We’re casting a wide net to see what sticks.”

But here’s the truth:
When you try to speak to everyone, you resonate with no one.

Let’s talk about why positioning discipline is your best outbound weapon—and how narrowing your focus actually makes it easier to grow.

🧠 Why Broad Targeting Feels Safe (But Isn’t)

When you’re early, it’s tempting to say:

  • “We help B2B teams close more deals.”

  • “Our AI tool works for any knowledge worker.”

  • “It’s for marketers, operators, and founders.”

But this thinking leads to:

  • Vague messaging

  • Inconsistent replies

  • Confusing positioning

  • A pitch that changes every time you send it

You don’t sound flexible—you sound fuzzy.

Outbound only works when your message lands fast.
And that only happens when you know exactly who you’re talking to.

🎯 Why Narrowing Focus = Faster Traction

When you zoom in on one persona, a few magic things happen:

  • You get sharper messaging.
    You can speak to their pain with precision.
    Not “increase productivity”—but “spend less time cleaning Salesforce.”

  • Your reply rates go up.
    Because the email sounds like it was written for them—not a segment.

  • You learn faster.
    Patterns emerge quicker. You figure out which hooks land and which objections come up.

  • Your product improves.
    With a clear persona, you get cleaner feedback loops and higher-quality usage.

  • You still have optionality later.
    Once you’ve nailed one persona, you can always expand—but now with proof.

Skyp.ai is built around this principle too—tight ICP targeting, curiosity-driven messaging, and no bloated, spray-and-pray sequences.

📍 What a Focused Persona Actually Looks Like

Not just a job title.
A real person in a specific situation.

Bad ICP:

“Operations leaders at B2B companies”

Better ICP:

“Series A–B Heads of Revenue Ops managing a 5-person sales team and struggling to standardize pipeline tracking.”

That level of specificity gives you:

  • Better targeting filters

  • Stronger personalization angles

  • Messaging that gets a “yep, that’s me” response

✍️ Email Example: Before vs After Narrowing

Too broad:

Hey [Name],
We help fast-growing companies like yours improve sales performance and streamline operations using our AI-powered platform. Curious if that’s something you’re focused on this quarter?

Focused and specific:

Hey [Name],
Noticed your team’s hiring a second AE. Curious—how are you tracking pipeline consistency across reps right now?

Built something for RevOps leads trying to standardize process before adding headcount.

Want to take a look?

🧪 A Simple Test: The 3-Message Rule

If your team (or your tool) is targeting more than one persona…
You need a separate message for each.

“Same email, just swapping the name and title” = 🚨 red flag.

If the pain, context, and language don’t change by persona…
You probably haven’t gone deep enough with any of them yet.

Want sharper outbound without the guesswork? Skyp.ai was built to make it automatic.