ICP Summary Template from ICONIQ
Being able to clearly and quickly define who is (and who isn’t) an ideal customer is helpful to your marketers, your sellers, and importantly - your buyers.
I love a simple template and ICONIQ, the venture firm, have a version of this table in their GTM Board Deck Template which I’ve borrowed.
Select your criteria in the first column
Depending on your business you may segment ICP’s by different criteria, but typical choices include:
Industry: your product may be verticalised, or not be appropriate in highly regulated markets
Employee count: your product may only be a fit for larger or smaller companies
Annual revenue: your commercial model may suit a certain revenue level
Geography: are you able to sell and support customers in specific regions
Technical requirements: does an ideal customer also need to have other products in place?
Economic buyer: who is the person that will pay for your product?
Segmentation: how will you segment your ICP across your go-to-market teams
Others might include the types of products or services that the company sells, whether they sell direct or via partners, whether they are private or publicly owned, whether they are growing or declining.
Target ICP
Now you can work down the second column, where we detail our perfect customer.
If this customer called your sales hotline your sellers would be fighting over getting the call. Your onboarding team would smile as they know they’ll have a smooth launch. Your CSMs are excited because they can already see the consistent expansion.
Detail the criteria, and be rigorous, we’ll include the outliers in the next column.
OK to sell to if criteria met
In the second column we can now widen our search. We are now going to list the types of companies that we would be happy to sell to if certain criteria are met.
Think of a call that comes in from a past customer of yours who has moved to a new account that is just outside of the ICP. She knows the product, she understands the limitations, but has a usecase and the team to support it.
Consider a referral that comes in from one of your system integrator partners. The account is already working with them on a transformation program and whilst this isn’t a typical use case, the partner has a plan for the integrations and will be providing technical support to the customer.
In both of these situations, whilst the customer is not in your sweet spot there are mitigating factors that minimise the risk of a failed implementation and a red account.
Firstly, at the bottom of the table you can list what those mitigating criteria are - yours may be different for your business
Now go down the second column and consider - if you had these mitigating criteria what type of accounts might you bring into scope?
Anti-ICP - do not target
The final column is just as important as our ideal customer profile - we want to clarify for our sellers the types of accounts that we absolutely will not sell to, no matter how keen the customer is.
We know that these accounts will often end up in no decision or a loss. If we were somehow successful in selling to them, we know the onboarding would be a challenge, expansion non-existent, and they would be a churn risk at the first renewal.
Detailing your anti-ICP can be painful - “but what if?” you think. Enforcing this constraint is a powerful tool for your marketers, your sellers and your buyers.
Coach your SDRs and AEs
Too often ICP is a throw-away line in an onboarding session - “we have had good success in financial services”, “we target 50-500 employee businesses”.
Instead, I recommend you get into the details of each of these criteria, and why they are important to each individual’s ability to achieve their targets.
Behind the summary you’ll create more detailed ICP breakdowns - which I’ll cover in another post.
Keep it visible and keep it updated
Your ICP summary will evolve - as you launch new products, open offices in new geographies, or make acquisitions your criteria will change - so keep it fresh, reviewing at least each half year.
Anyone in your go-to-market team should be able to recount your ICP summary without having to go digging in a 90 page deck.
Create a one pager - and at least have it visible on your intranet or enablement platform.
If it was me, I would laminate a copy, or print it on a notepad, or adorning a coffee mug and have it sent to every seller’s home address!
The Pipeline Pyramid
The ICP is a key foundation in your pipeline pyramid. If your sellers are struggling with generating pipeline, or the pipeline they have isn’t moving forward towards a successful close - then take a look back at this layer and ensure you have clarity before you move further up the pyramid.
Get started
Whenever you are ready, there are three ways that I can help you accelerate your revenue.
Buyer Enablement Assessment - Answer nine questions in five minutes and receive your free personalised report to help you SDRs and AEs generate pipeline.
Revenue 360 Assessments - inspire and lead your revenue teams with revenue specific 360 reports designed for marketing, sales and customer success teams.
Buyer Enablement Platform - We’ll design, build and manage your buyer enablement platform on your behalf - generating quality pipeline in under 90 days.