Max MorrishThe Playbook

Who, chapter two

One company, several buyers

Ledgerline CFO signs the contract Project manager uses it every day Field superintendent uses it on site, can block it

  1. CFO signs the contract

    Headline
    Know which jobs are making money before the month closes.
    The proof they need
    Last quarter rerun in Ledgerline, job by job, next to their own books, and a reference from a contractor their size.
    Where they are
    Their accountant, a peer CFO, and a one-page business case that gets forwarded.
    The word they'd never use
    disruptive. A CFO hears risk to the close.

  2. Project manager uses it every day

    Headline
    Price, approve and bill every change order in one place.
    The proof they need
    A ten-minute walk-through of one real change order, from the site request to the invoice.
    Where they are
    Short how-to videos and other project managers, read on a phone between site visits.
    The word they'd never use
    enterprise. It sounds like six months of setup and more admin.

  3. Field superintendent uses it on site, and can block it

    Headline
    Log the crew's hours and materials from the truck in under a minute.
    The proof they need
    Another superintendent using it on a real site, on a phone, with gloves on.
    Where they are
    Other superintendents, the supply-yard counter, and a text from their project manager.
    The word they'd never use
    dashboard. It sounds like office work landing on the site.
Ledgerline, an invented accounts package for mid-sized contractors, split into the three people who decide whether it gets bought: the CFO who signs, the project manager who uses it every day, and the field superintendent who uses it on site and can block it. Each card is the same product in that buyer's terms. Pull it apart and put it back together by dragging the picture, with the button or with the arrow keys, and pick a buyer to see the product in their words. Ledgerline is invented, and so is every line on the cards.

The idea

I think most marketing that fails was written for an average customer who doesn't exist. A company that sells to other companies is almost never bought by one person. Somebody signs, somebody uses it every day, and somebody else can quietly stop it, and each of them needs their own reason to say yes, heard in their own words, in the place they already look.

So I split the buyer before I write anything. In B2B that means two separate descriptions. The ICP describes the company you sell to by its firmographics, so the industry, the size, the revenue and how it works now. The persona describes the person you're actually talking to, which means their role, what they're afraid of and the words they use. Then I try to make the data point a person, so the brief reads like someone I could ring.

The company and the person

The cards above are the short version. Here is the longer one for a single buyer, with the company described separately so the two don't blur. Fill in the person and watch what the card is missing.

Persona: the person you talk to

Who they are (demographics)
Why they'd buy (psychographics)
Who4 of 4
Why0 of 5

This says who, not why they'd buy.

ICP: the company you sell to

Ledgerline's ideal customer, in firmographics. Invented, like Ledgerline.

Industry
Specialty and commercial contractors: electrical, mechanical, concrete
Size
40 to 300 staff
Revenue
$8M to $60M a year
Work
10 to 60 jobs running at once
Tools now
Spreadsheets and an entry-level accounting package
Trigger
A job that lost money nobody saw until the month closed
Not a fit
One-crew firms, and firms already on a construction ERP

The ICP tells sales which companies to call. It can't tell anyone what to say once someone picks up, which is the persona's job. One ICP usually holds several personas, and here it holds all three buyers above.

Where I used it

  • Three customer profiles for Liquid Death, written for a course assignment (the Sober-Curious Concert Kid, the Gym Bro Who Hates Hydroflasks and the Brand Marketing Professional). Each one had demographics, psychographics and spending habits, and a line on why the brand works for that person. The gym one carries the idea of this chapter. He wants what wellness brands sell and rejects how they look, so the skulls on the can are what let him buy it. Spec work
  • The Mindful Achiever, the one customer my spec launch for Lululemon's Flow Series was written to. The brief, the four channels and every piece answer to that one person. Spec work

What I'd do now

Turn the method into a one-page worksheet of my own, to replace the templates I used in the course. One side is the company, the ICP, in a few lines of firmographics. The other side is the person, with the demographic fields kept short and most of the page given to their goals, their fears, the words they use, what they read and the objection they'll raise. At the bottom goes the test from the builder above. If a card only says who, it isn't finished yet.

Describing the ICP and the persona separately, as Allison Garrett taught it in a B2B marketing workshop, part of a digital marketing program in 2026. "Make a data point a person" is from one of that program's assignments.