An ideal customer profile points sellers and marketers toward who to target and why by assisting when identifying key characteristics that buyers share. A quality ICP is always supported with correct information, such as:
- Company firmographics
- Technographic data
- Funding or IPO status
- Company size
- Annual recurring revenue
- Industry and location
When starting the sales prospecting and lead qualification process, knowing this information is crucial. It helps to make better decisions about the leads that are worth pursuing.
When a company understands its ideal customers' unique characteristics, it can focus marketing efforts on prospects most likely to convert, eliminating competing voices and maximizing budget.
To begin, identify the best current customers and determine what they have in common. Understand current customers as much as possible to categorize them and understand which are the best. Next, gather and research common attributes from a mix of data sources. Defining the challenges and opportunities your ICPs face is the next step, followed by determining what will be done about them. Creating a document that details each ICP and contains all the information gathered about them is the final step.
