How & Where To Find Your Ideal Customer Profiles: The Complete Guide
Suppose your product is a lead qualification tool that automatically qualifies leads.
If you target small businesses with short sales cycles instead of enterprises with long and complex ones, chances are you’ll not see any conversions.
That's because you targeted the wrong audience.
If you target small businesses with short sales cycles instead of enterprises with long and complex ones, chances are you’ll not see any conversions.
That's because you targeted the wrong audience.
If targeted wrongly, 50% of your users would turn away. So, ‘Who exactly are you trying to sell your product?’ is a million-dollar question you must ask before building your sales strategies.
Whether you’re a beginner in sales or a seasoned outreach expert, crafting your ideal customer profile is your most crucial job. So, avoid shooting arrows in the dark, and focus on painting a clear picture of your ICP—the people who will benefit the most from your product.
Let’s dive deeper into creating ICPs and how to find them.
Whether you’re a beginner in sales or a seasoned outreach expert, crafting your ideal customer profile is your most crucial job. So, avoid shooting arrows in the dark, and focus on painting a clear picture of your ICP—the people who will benefit the most from your product.
Let’s dive deeper into creating ICPs and how to find them.
Table of Contents:
What is an ICP?
An Ideal Customer Profile is the description of the perfect customer or company that would derive the maximum benefits from your product. It is a template that companies create to identify the buyers who are a perfect fit for what the company sells. Here are the key elements included in an ICP.
- Firmographics include characteristics like industry, company size, revenue, business model, location, etc.
- Technographics include the details of the technology stack used by the company - marketing tools, data analytics tools, CRM, etc.
- Psychographics include company challenges or customer pain points.
For example, if you're a B2B SaaS company, your ICP might be an early-stage startup in the Fintech industry with a revenue of $5 million in the APAC region and using payment or invoicing software.
ICP vs Buyer Persona- Is there a difference?
Though ICPs and buyer personas are often used interchangeably, the two have a few key differences.
| Ideal Customer Profile | Buyer Persona |
|---|---|
| A strategic framework for a high-level overview | A strategic tool that captures behavior, preferences, and specific traits to create a fictional representation of a customer segment |
| Gives a broad, detailed view | Deep dives into individual customer profiles focusing on granularity |
| Helps identify target market segments and align marketing efforts accordingly | Offers specific insights into customer profiles for personalization |
| Generally associated with B2B businesses | Used by both B2B and B2C companies |
| Created based on data from CRM, analytics tools, customer interviews | Focuses on the individual behaviors, patterns, and preferences behind a purchase. |
Why Create an ICP?
Tracy Eiler, CMO at InsideView, says, ‘An important part of our strategy was building our ideal customer profile (ICP). These aren’t always the accounts you can sign the fastest—they’re the accounts most likely to stay with you the longest.’
There are several reasons why companies must create ICPs. Here are a few of them.
Focused and Personalized Marketing Efforts
McKinsey’s research suggests that personalization drives 40% more revenue for the fastest-growing companies.
With ICPS, you can better understand your target markets based on their traits, behaviors, and characteristics and build more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.
With ICPS, you can better understand your target markets based on their traits, behaviors, and characteristics and build more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.
Increased Conversion Rates
High-quality ICPs provide the key points for sales pitches.
You can also use ICPs to prioritize new prospects, considering how much revenue they can potentially bring to the company. As a result, you can focus on high-value leads and boost conversion rates.
You can also use ICPs to prioritize new prospects, considering how much revenue they can potentially bring to the company. As a result, you can focus on high-value leads and boost conversion rates.
Improved Product or Service
ICPs help product and service teams to build and improve on the company product or solution to meet customers’ needs and expectations better.
They can take into account customer feedback about what’s working and what’s not to create products that retain customers.
They can take into account customer feedback about what’s working and what’s not to create products that retain customers.
Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
ICPs help target the right target audience by detailing their pain points, interests, and challenges.
Knowing your audiences well can help you implement dedicated marketing strategies and help them solve their problems with your product, thereby boosting sales wins, average deal size, and CLTV.
Knowing your audiences well can help you implement dedicated marketing strategies and help them solve their problems with your product, thereby boosting sales wins, average deal size, and CLTV.
📌 Here’s how New Breed successfully defined and implemented its ICP, Startup Sam, to increase its revenue significantly.
New Breed defined one of its ICPs as Startup Sam. This customer type has the following attributes:
With high acquisition costs, this ICP provided little value to the company.
Rethinking strategies, New Breed deterred sales reps from working with Startup Sams and offered the ICP other resources to overcome their challenges.
As a result, New Breed witnessed the following:
Amazing, right?
New Breed defined one of its ICPs as Startup Sam. This customer type has the following attributes:
- Highly interested in collaborating with New Breed
- Limited budget
With high acquisition costs, this ICP provided little value to the company.
Rethinking strategies, New Breed deterred sales reps from working with Startup Sams and offered the ICP other resources to overcome their challenges.
As a result, New Breed witnessed the following:
- 2016 - New Breed started selling to Startup Sams
- 2017 - The company saw an 87% boost in average deal size
- 2018 - There was a 30% boost in average deal size from 2017
- 2019 - The average deal size was 152% higher than what it had been in 2016
Amazing, right?
How to Create Your Ideal Customer Profile?
According to Josh McDonald, Founder at Slate Pointers and a GTM expert, says, ‘Your ICP is not just a resource for the marketing team; it’s actually a strategic tool integral to aligning your entire go-to-market (GTM) strategy.’
Data-driven ICPs are reliable and accurate. They help you segment the customer base more effectively and spot emerging trends and patterns.
Also, ICPs based on data help you focus your efforts on the most promising prospects, improving efficiency and reducing acquisition costs. So, consider the following when creating your ICP:
Data Collection
Develop your ICP by collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative market data. Gather qualitative inputs from stakeholder interviews and leverage them to create your ICP.
Data Analysis
Analyze historical prospect and customer data to research common attributes of the most valuable accounts.
According to a Reddit thread, gather data from your CRM like revenue, location, team size, etc., and analyze accounts and their buying committee structure by conducting in-depth interviews.
This data collection and analysis will help you identify the decision-makers of a company and the behavioral and firmographic attributes that show up for high-value customers.
According to a Reddit thread, gather data from your CRM like revenue, location, team size, etc., and analyze accounts and their buying committee structure by conducting in-depth interviews.
This data collection and analysis will help you identify the decision-makers of a company and the behavioral and firmographic attributes that show up for high-value customers.
Cross-functional Collaboration
According to Pankaj Prasoon, a Product Management Expert at Microsoft, 'effective cross-functional collaboration is crucial for product success as it ensures diverse perspectives, shared goals and streamlined communication, leading to higher innovation and customer satisfaction.'
Consider cross-functional collaboration to develop your ICP. Hold meetings with sales, marketing, and customer success teams during ICP development to ensure that it aligns with all departments and organizational goals, leading to better strategies, conversion rates, and a higher ROI.
Third-party Tools
Use tools and templates for ICP development to ensure consistency across teams. HubSpot’s ICP template and GrowthHacker’s ICP Canvas are useful tools that allow you to map out your ICP easily.
Additionally, here are three tools to help you tap into rich customer information.
Additionally, here are three tools to help you tap into rich customer information.
- SparkToro: This is an audience intelligence tool that offers market insights like the social channels your audience prefers, how they spend their time, the communities they participate in, etc.
- Gong: This tool analyzes customer interactions via email, phone, web conferences, etc., to highlight factors that contributed to conversions in the past.
- Clearout: A data enrichment platform that helps you prospect potential ICPs and high-intent leads through LinkedIn, and get their valid contact details.
When you’re equipped with the data you need, create your ideal customer profile by following these steps.
1. List the Best Customers
Identify your best customers and identify the characteristics common to them.
Define your ‘best’ considering your company goals. For example, you might compare CLTV or how long the customers take to convert —or any other metric. Once you have the list ready, continue with the next step.
Define your ‘best’ considering your company goals. For example, you might compare CLTV or how long the customers take to convert —or any other metric. Once you have the list ready, continue with the next step.
2. Jot Down the Common Attributes
Research the customer data to find out why they’re the best customers —is it their fast growth or their location, industry, or company size?
Besides, identify what factors contribute to their satisfaction, how they found your product, their shared characteristics, the marketing tactics they use the most, their purchase motivations, pain points, and use cases.
Besides, identify what factors contribute to their satisfaction, how they found your product, their shared characteristics, the marketing tactics they use the most, their purchase motivations, pain points, and use cases.
3. Identify Opportunities and Challenges
Find the challenges your ICP faces and the opportunities where you can help them solve their issues.
For instance, your product helps qualify leads, and one of your ICPs is a sales manager. Sales managers own the sales process and work alongside marketing teams to achieve sales targets and improve the sales process.
They might use your product to qualify leads faster. You can use this product information to help sales managers address the challenges they face in qualifying leads.
For instance, your product helps qualify leads, and one of your ICPs is a sales manager. Sales managers own the sales process and work alongside marketing teams to achieve sales targets and improve the sales process.
They might use your product to qualify leads faster. You can use this product information to help sales managers address the challenges they face in qualifying leads.
4. Draft your Ideal Customer Profile
You’ve gathered and analyzed the data, done the work, and now you have a good idea of your best customers and how to identify them.
This step involves creating a document that clearly outlines your ICP. Include important information like business characteristics, individual characteristics, and behavioral insights of your perfect customers.
This step involves creating a document that clearly outlines your ICP. Include important information like business characteristics, individual characteristics, and behavioral insights of your perfect customers.
5. Test and Refine
Review and update your ICP every three months based on changing customer behavior.
Check your site’s traffic source, the target audiences visiting your website, reviews, and comments from customers on platforms like G2 and ProductHunt to find out the changing market trends and update your ICP as required.
Check your site’s traffic source, the target audiences visiting your website, reviews, and comments from customers on platforms like G2 and ProductHunt to find out the changing market trends and update your ICP as required.
How & Where to Find Your ICPs?
Now that you know your ideal customer, let’s talk about where & how you can find them. Here are the online and offline platforms where you can find your ICPs.
Online Platforms
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn’s advanced search filters (people filter) let you connect with LinkedIn members based on their profile information. You can create custom audiences using the Matched Audience option. Further, you can use LinkedIn’s Clearout extension to find the contact details of your ICPs.
2. Crunchbase
Cruchbase’s filtering options allow users to identify potential customers based on industry, company size, funding, location, and other criteria.
3. Industry Platforms
Industry-focused platforms and communities like HS's Inbound, Slack communities like SaaSBoomi, S11S, SaaS Club, Salesforce's Trailblazer Community, etc., can help you reach out to your ideal customer profiles and engage with them.
4. Social Media Groups
While LinkedIn is a good social platform for B2B companies, Facebook and Instagram work well for companies targeting consumers. Here are a few strategies to find and engage your ICP on social platforms.
- Share posts, videos, and valuable insights targeting you’re your audience to highlight your value proposition.
- Engage with industry experts and influencers – ask questions, post comments, or like posts to get on their radar.
- Promote product-led content that adds value to your targeted audience’s lives.
Offline Channels
5. Industry Events
Attend industry events, summits, and conferences where you can connect with potential customers and learn more about their pain points. For instance, SaaStr Annual and WebSummit are events that happen yearly for SaaS companies to network with industry experts and find potential customers.
6. Partnerships
Partnering or collaborating with other companies in your industry or influencers on social media can help you access a larger base of potential customers. Moreover, you can learn more about what your customers need and what attributes attract them the most.
A fantastic example is mobile network provider EE, which gives new users six months of free Apple Music.
A fantastic example is mobile network provider EE, which gives new users six months of free Apple Music.
A Final Note - Pro Tips for Finding Your ICPs
An ICP is not just a document for your orientation to show what your customers look like, but it is an important tool to guide your strategic decisions.
While documenting the perfect customer profile through market research is critical, there are a few tips you must consider to implement your ICP successfully.
Start with being specific about the unique and important characteristics of your ICP. Test your initial ICP from time to time to upgrade it with the evolving market needs.
Track your progress to ensure your ICP implementation is working out well. Higher win rates, High LTV, High NPS score, boost in conversion rate, and happy customer feedback are signs you’re doing great.
Want to take your sales prospecting to the next level? Try Clearout for free!
While documenting the perfect customer profile through market research is critical, there are a few tips you must consider to implement your ICP successfully.
Start with being specific about the unique and important characteristics of your ICP. Test your initial ICP from time to time to upgrade it with the evolving market needs.
Track your progress to ensure your ICP implementation is working out well. Higher win rates, High LTV, High NPS score, boost in conversion rate, and happy customer feedback are signs you’re doing great.
Want to take your sales prospecting to the next level? Try Clearout for free!
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