What is an Ideal Customer Profile, and Where Do I Start?

What is an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)? 

The gist is really knowing who is the perfect customer is for what you are selling. If you could construct the perfect customer for what your company solves for, then you would have your first Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). 

Think of your ICP as a fictitious company that has all of the qualities that would make them the best fit for the solutions you provide.

Why is having an ICP important?

Having an ICP is kind of like having a North Star for your marketing and sales efforts. Everyone is on the same page about who you should be targeting.

ICPs are very useful if your organization utilizes an account-based marketing approach, allowing you to focus on selling to targeted accounts. Getting your ICP right will support defining the problems you're solving, aligning your product/service capabilities with customers’ needs, and assisting in laying out your future road map for product/service updates and changes.

Here is an example template that we use at Blossom when building out ICPs

Shouldn't every lead go to Sales?

Some leads that convert and come through to your HubSpot environment may not be a good fit. Having an ICP established, you can use filters to help you identify who can buy from you and who can’t. This helps ensure your sales reps aren't spending too much time on leads that most likely won't close a deal with them.

Consider these characteristics when identifying your ideal fit:

• Budget / Revenue / Company Size - what is the lowest cost threshold that a customer would have to pay for your product or service?
• Industry - are there specific verticals that you work within? Are there verticals that you don’t work with?
• Geography - do you not sell to a particular region?
• Legality - are there legal reasons that limit your potential customer base, maybe age, location, or government restrictions?
• Product or Service Limitations - do you have a service level agreement (SLA) with your customers to meet a certain response time? If someone needs a response quicker, can you guarantee you’ll be able to meet that demand?

The list can go on and on. What's important is having a list that makes sense and that all stakeholders agree on it. These are the qualities that a lead needs to have to be able to buy from you. If they don’t meet all of these predefined characteristics, you can disqualify them and ensure your sales reps are spending time with leads that are a good fit.

What's the difference between ICPs and Personas?

Some may be wondering what the difference is between ICPs and Personas and even wondering if this process is becoming too complicated. For the latter, NO. These are musts in order to grow. As for the former, ICPs are focused on the fit of the account. They don’t dive too deep into the individuals you will encounter. That's where Personas come into play. These will be the people that your sales reps will be talking to, who will be reading your blogs, and ultimately who are responsible for actually making the purchase.

Some of the sample questions one would ask to identify Personas are:

1. Background
2. Demographics
3. Goals
4. Challenges
5. What Can We Do...
6. Common Objections
7. Marketing Message

HubSpot even has its own Buyer Persona generator that can really help you get started.