You have an amazing product you believe can change the game. But, here’s the thing, are you showing it to the right people? If not, it’s like trying to sell winter boots in the desert.
One-size-fits-all doesn’t work well. It means you might miss good customers. Using generic methods can also lead to problems like poor leads, not many people opening your messages, not many people buying, and not making much money.
This is where the ICP, or ideal customer profile, comes in. Think of it as a map to find your best customers. A study from 2019 found that if you use ICP well, you can be 68% better at winning big customers.
In this guide, we’ll talk about ICP basics. We’ll see why it’s important, how it’s different from buyer personas, and how to make the perfect B2B ICP. Let’s get started.
What’s an ideal customer profile, and why does it matter so much?
An ideal customer profile (ICP) is like a blueprint for your perfect customer. It tells you who is most likely to really benefit from what you’re selling. This profile includes things like the type of company, the environment it operates in, and how potential customers behave.
In the business world, your ICP helps you spot the companies that are a perfect fit for your product or service. The goal is to show that what you offer can solve their problems.
If you try to sell to random people without a clear ICP, your sales efforts will be all over the place and not very effective. Without an ICP, you can’t predict how many sales calls your team will make or when and with whom they’ll close deals. This makes it hard to build a sales process that consistently brings in new business every month.
Not having a clear plan can lead to messy and unpredictable growth, which isn’t good for the long run. But with an ICP, you can:
- Use data to understand what to expect.
- Concentrate on the best potential customers.
- Make your growth more predictable and efficient.
Understanding your most frequent customers helps marketing create lead-generation campaigns that attract top-quality leads. Detailed buyer personas assist sales teams in crafting personalized messages, closing deals more swiftly, and better meeting customer needs.
ICP vs. buyer persona: What is the difference?
Let’s clear up the confusion. A B2B ideal customer profile (ICP) and a buyer persona aren’t the same thing. They might seem similar but they serve different roles in your marketing plan.
So, what’s the actual difference?
ICP: This is the big picture. It’s like an overall sketch of the types of companies that benefit most from your product or service. Instead of focusing on individuals, the ICP looks at the characteristics of companies that are a good fit. For example, it could be a B2B software company in a particular location, with a specific team size, revenue range, and tech tools they use.
Buyer persona: Once you have your ICP, you can dive deeper into the specific people within these companies. A buyer persona gives you a detailed portrait of the decision-makers who decide to make a purchase. It covers things like their demographics, interests, behaviours, and preferences.
Keep in mind, your ICP shows you the target, guiding your marketing efforts. Then, your buyer personas give you the details to customize your outreach, making sure your message resonates with the actual decision-makers in those ideal companies.
By using both your ICP and buyer personas, you’re not just sending out messages randomly. Instead, you’re creating accurate communication arrows, hitting the mark every time.
Creating precise B2B customer profiles with segmentation
Creating a precise B2B customer profile is essential, but you can’t just make one up out of thin air. It’s best to base it on your existing customers. So, whether you’re entering a new area, introducing a new product, or growing in your current markets, your marketing team should start by segmenting your B2B customers. This segmentation lets you figure out exactly who your ideal customer is, right down to the smallest details.
Now, let’s explore the important factors to think about during this process.
Demographic:
- Industry: What kind of business are they in?
- Title: What roles do their main decision-makers have?
- Company size: How many employees work there, and are they a small startup, a medium-sized business, or a large enterprise?
- Location: Where is their main office or operation situated?
Firmographic:
- Revenue: What’s their typical yearly income?
- Growth rate: Are they growing rapidly or staying stable?
- Tech stack: What technology tools and systems are crucial for their operations?
Psychographic:
- Pain points: What are the main problems or challenges they’re dealing with?
- Values: What guides their decision-making process?
- Challenges: What obstacles are common in their industry or niche?
Behavioural:
- Buying habits: How often do they make purchases, and where do they make them?
- Average order value: How much money do they usually spend per transaction?
- Media consumption habits: Where do they go for information and entertainment?
- Brand interactions: How do they connect with brands, both online and offline?
How to create ideal customer profiles?
Segmenting your clients is the first step to pinpoint your target market. Afterwards, your marketing and sales teams should closely examine the most profitable and satisfied accounts to solidify them into your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Step 1: Select Your Top Customers
Don’t focus on the average customers; instead, build your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) around your star performers. Choose the 5, 8, or 10 customers who have been exceptional for your business.
The aim is to:
- Identify your current customers and find their shared characteristics.
- Thoroughly examine your sales process to spot the segments with the best conversion rates and profits.
- Understand the specific problems your solutions solve for your customers.
- Evaluate which existing clients bring the most value. If you don’t have ten top clients, that’s fine. Quality data is more important than quantity.
Remember: Your goal isn’t to create an average customer profile. So, picking 10 random customers and finding commonalities won’t work. Choose the best customers who bring in significant revenue, with whom you enjoy working, or who have the shortest sales cycles.
Step 2: Dive Deep into Customer Insights
Collect data about these existing clients from every possible source:
- CRM: Your CRM software holds valuable details like location, revenue, and team size.
- Social Media: Discover which platforms these companies are active on. These are ideal for future content sharing.
- Customer Surveys: Conduct interviews, surveys, or casual conversations to add qualitative insights. Ask about their pain points, favourite aspects of your product, decision-making process, or even their preferred podcasts. The goal is to get the full story.
Step 3: Craft Your Ultimate B2B Customer Profile
Now, bring together all the information you’ve gathered into a comprehensive customer profile. Pay close attention to geographic and financial data, but also add unique criteria for a full picture. With this profile in hand, plan your strategy. You can either begin conversations with lower-level influencers to gather insights or directly approach the decision-makers. Whichever path you take, being well-prepared is key. Understand the challenges, identify the key players, and be aware of potential obstacles within the company.
Step 4: Test and Refine
Just like you wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive, it’s the same idea here. Run pilot campaigns or targeted sales efforts based on your newly created ICP to validate it. Collect and analyze this data:
- Customer Conversations: Engage with your top customers to understand their buying triggers, pain points, and product feedback. Are they in line with what you predicted in your ICP?
- Prospect Insights: Find prospects who resemble your best customers and discover their pain points, current solutions, and willingness to consider your product. Do their challenges and needs match those of your existing clients?
- Team Feedback: Consult your sales, customer success, and account management teams to compare your ICP findings with their market experiences. Were these clients completely satisfied with your services? Was your product the ideal solution for their needs? Most importantly, did your teams enjoy working on those projects?
If the answer is “yes” to all these questions, then your ICP is valid.
Mistakes to avoid while crafting ICP
Targeting without the research
It might be tempting to go after industries like fintech because they seem promising. However, it’s essential to check if you have the right examples or clear advantages compared to your competition. Going after industries without a plan can waste your resources. Always ask: Can we show that we’re better than our competition at sealing the deal?
Forgetting your current customers
Your ICP should be realistic, not just a dream. While landing a big client like Google is nice, do you usually serve clients like that? Your ICP should be based on real companies that have actually benefited from what you offer. So, look at your existing customers and pick the ones that show successful sales.
Narrowing down too much
Being specific is good, but being too specific can close doors. Your ICP should cover the general needs and likes of your target audience, not just the details of one specific company.
Mixing up ICP and buyer personas
Remember, it’s important to see the difference between ICP and buyer personas. ICP is about the companies, while buyer personas are about the people in those companies. First, define the companies you want to work with through your ICP. Then, go deeper to understand the individuals who influence or make decisions in those organizations.
Your secret to boosting B2B sales? It starts with getting your ICP right!
Why do some companies struggle to find their ICPs and end up with ineffective campaigns? Well, there are several reasons.
In some cases, companies overestimate their product’s universality and think it’s suitable for many industries and markets. In other cases, they have a good ICP in mind but fail to align their value propositions with it. Sometimes, they try to target all their ICPs simultaneously, spreading their efforts too thin, which makes it hard to process and qualify leads effectively.
The key is to test, track, and improve. By doing so, you’ll get your ICP right, and people will engage with your emails and choose your products.
If you are not sure where to start and need help in determining ICP for your next B2B lead generation campaign, book a consulting call with us.
