You don’t know what ICP means do you?

If you guessed Insane Clown Posse, you’re 50% right.

Only 50% because this article is about boring sales stuff not famous make-up wearing hip hop artists.

Most sellers understand the concept of an Ideal Client Profile but fail to see why it matters, where it came from, or what to do with it.

So let’s talk about it.

Why ICP matters to your prospect

When asked “what’s your sweet spot?” or “who is a great client for you?” many sellers will respond with some form of the following: “We work with everyone” or “We work with any employers with 5 to 50,000 employees”

Answers like that are a signal to your prospect that you just want to close deals, and you don’t really understand their unique needs.

Where your ICP came from

At some point (hopefully), your leadership team did an exercise to walk from Total Addressable Market to Serviceable Available Market to Serviceable Obtainable Market and finally landed on Ideal Client Profile.

They (hopefully, again) used real client and market data to draw these conclusions and adjusted over time.

Why ICP matters to you

Do you want to go after prospects who are less likely to close, more likely to waste your time, and more likely to be a pain to manage after they sign?

Then knowing your ICP doesn’t matter.

Want shorter sales cycles, lower-volume prospecting, and higher retention rates?

Your ICP is the way to go.

What an ICP is NOT

Not just firmographics – be very aware of buying behavior, decision making process, and paper process.

A once and done exercise – the ICP should evolve over time based on data and experience.

A wish – just because you want to sell to the Fortune 100 doesn’t mean they are your ICP.

(Note: shoutout to Amanda Volner for coining “What an ICP is NOT”)

TL;DR

If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one.