Every sales lead is unique. Some will turn down your company’s offer, while others will close quickly. In the best-case scenario, the customer will not only be won quickly, but will also become a long-term supporter who will recommend you to everyone they meet.
To plan a successful sales and marketing strategy, you need to know exactly which leads will prove to be particularly valuable. This is where the Ideal Customer Profile comes in. This profile provides your team with the information needed to reach the right customers.
What is an Ideal Customer Profile?
An Ideal Customer Profile (also known as ICP or ideal buyer profile) is a detailed, data-driven description of the type of customers who would be most valuable to you. This could be because they are interested in your product for the long term, have a faster sales cycle, switzerland email list or are likely to refer others to your company. An ICP is a business-to-business (B2B) concept that focuses on other businesses that can benefit from your offering, as opposed to individual end customers.
Most ICPs consist of a short paragraph or list (one to two sentences total). For example: “Our ideal customer is a business-to-consumer (B2C) company in the video game industry based in Germany that has at least 100,000 followers on its social media and has a branding budget of at least €1 million.” An Ideal Customer Profile framework can help you identify target accounts with the highest likelihood of becoming valuable customers. This process forms the foundation for account-based marketing campaigns.
Essential Components of an Ideal Customer Profile
There are a number of common attributes you can consider when developing your Ideal Customer Profile. The strongest ICPs select five to seven of these attributes that are most important to your perfect customer.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself when evaluating the data:
- Industry. What field does your ideal customer work in?
- Number of employees. How big is your ideal customer’s company? How many employees does their product team, customer service team, why should you care about email or sales team have?
- Evaluation. Is your ideal customer a multi-million dollar company or an up-and-coming start-up?
- Budget. How much money does your ideal customer have available per year? How much would they be willing to spend on your product?
- Annual turnover. How much money does your ideal customer work with per year?
- Financing structure. What sources of financing does your ideal customer use? Who are the investors?
- Location. Where does your ideal customer operate? Do they have a brick-and-mortar store or do they primarily sell via e-commerce?
- Year of foundation. When was your ideal customer’s company founded? How long has he/she been active?
- Customer base. What demographic china phone numbers groups does your ideal customer serve?
- Goals. What is the mission of your ideal customer? How does he/she pursue his/her goals?
- Technology use. What existing technologies does your ideal customer use in their daily routine?
- Network. How well connected is your ideal customer in the industry? How likely is he/she to recommend your product?
- Challenges. What pain points or bottlenecks does your ideal customer have? How can you solve these problems?
How does an Ideal Customer Profile differ from a Buyer Persona?
ICPs and buyer personas are similar concepts but differ in some important ways.
Similarities between ICPs and Buyer Personas
- Details. An Ideal Customer Profile is similar to a Buyer Persona in that both are detailed descriptions of a company’s ideal customers. Both describe important characteristics like budget and pain points.
- Overlapping goals. Some companies prefer to incorporate an ideal potential buyer persona within their ICP to further specify their target market. For example, a coffee subscription provider that sells to businesses might define their ICP’s ideal buyer persona as someone who values sustainability.