Field guide
Define a narrow ideal customer profile
Make the account sample specific enough to reject poor fit.
A usable ICP names an organization type, buyer role, trigger problem and exclusions. 'All small businesses' cannot guide research or a relevant message.
Decision brief
Write a profile that can reject accounts
An ICP is useful when it changes which organizations the team pursues. Include the buyer's job, current problem, firmographic context, a likely reason to act and disqualifiers. A description broad enough to include almost everyone cannot guide research.
Test the draft against real accounts. For each one, write why it fits or fails using observable evidence. Record disagreements so the definition becomes clearer before a database or sequence is introduced.
What to do first
- Write the buyer's job and the event that makes the problem urgent.
- Set size, sector or system filters only when they relate to value.
- List three reasons an account should be excluded.
Run a small comparison
- Draft five inclusion and five exclusion criteria.
- Score 20 candidate accounts with source notes.
- Review disputed accounts and revise one criterion at a time.
Questions to resolve
- What problem makes this buyer likely to care?
- Which facts can be verified?
- What would cause an account to be removed?
How to read the result: A good ICP makes a shortlist smaller and easier to defend, even before it produces outreach results.
What this does not justify
- Define the market only by broad industry.
- Use an ICP that cannot be checked from available evidence.
MeasureShare of 20 researched accounts that pass fit review
Stop or revise whenRevise the ICP if most sample accounts need exceptions.