Let's talk ICP. This week I have spoken with 3 clients about it, and it was a topic of conversation with a couple folks at a recent GTMfund dinner in Toronto.
The common thread is that most Sales orgs are not getting deep enough with their understanding of the market that they sell into.
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐂𝐏?"
Typical response: n# of employees, X industries, Y titles.
Great data points, and helpful context when building lists. But there is no context here, no 'why', no triggers/signals/insert other buzzword that allows to actually know when our prospects need a solution.
At the end of the day, we as sellers are solving specific problems with our products, and we are looking for organizations and contacts that are currently experiencing that exact problem.
Company size, roles, and industries rarely paint that whole picture. So where do we start?
When building out your ICP approach it's important to start at the top of the funnel, and work your way down. (Told you - big funnel guy)
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐲?
Answer this by talking to customers, combing through existing customer reports, learning from churned orgs., and looking at the companies that came inbound to you.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 ^ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧?
Raises, new hires, growth stages, public documents, social posts, changes in industry regulations are all examples of this.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞?
If you cannot connect the dots here, you are likely coming across as far too generic in your messaging. The classic "why you, why you now" approach.
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐲, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐲?
Go back to the data, follow deals, talk to customers.
Go through these questions and your prospecting will become much more targeted, which will lead to increased email and call metrics, and will likely book you a bunch more deals.
Think about how many "no's" or no responses are the result of you reaching out to people who simply don't care. You can eliminate so many of those by paying more attention to your true ICP.
How does your prospecting look today? Is your current iteration of ICP helping or hurting it?