How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a straightforward way to define the perfect client for your organization’s solution. Learning how to create one can set you ahead of your competition and help teams make more informed decisions. 

In our beginner-friendly guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about ICPs, including what they are, how they differ from similar concepts, how to create an ICP, the most notable benefits of doing so, and how you and your team can practice effective client communication during the process. 

What Is an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?

An ideal customer profile (ICP) — also referred to as an ideal buyer profile — is a way to describe the perfect client for your company. When considering the solutions your organization offers, an ICP would be the best fit. 

When you think about the services or products you offer, which type of organizations or companies would you want to target? That’s the tip of the ICP iceberg. 

Why is having an ideal customer profile important? 

Having an ideal customer profile is important because it can help organizations ensure their solution solves for issues customers have and aligns with their needs. It’s also especially important for informing any future adjustments you might make to the service or product to better address the consumers’ needs. 

If done right, an ICP can lead to specific benefits, like: 

• Increased conversion rates
• Greater average annual contract values (ACV) and lifetime values (LTV)
• Quicker sales cycles 

ICP vs. target market

Both ICPs and target markets are also similar terms with distinct meanings. Specifically, your target market is the overall audience you want to reach with your solution, whereas an ICP is a narrower viewer of that group. 

Ideal customer profile vs. buyer persona

An ideal customer profile and a buyer persona are similar concepts, but they do have some key differences. While they’re both used to inform marketing strategies, an ICP hones in on the perfect type of organization you’d want to focus on whereas a buyer person is a more in-depth visualization of an individual customer in your target consumer base. 

For example, since an ICP is a bird’s eye view of your perfect customer, folks might zero in on aspects like a company’s size, industry, or demographics. A buyer person might include more specific information, like customer needs, pain points, concerns, patterns of behavior, and psychographics. 

How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

The way in which a team goes about creating an effective ICP might differ based on the company, industry, or other factors. But generally, anyone can create one to better allocate resources and inform future strategy. Here’s how to create an ideal customer profile in six steps.

1. Find your target audience.

The first step in creating an ideal customer profile is to pin down the broad group of organizations, companies, and people you’d like to reach. There are a few ways to do this, but one of the most effective strategies is to list out your current best customers. This can help you narrow down who you want to reach in the future. In an ideal world, who would you like to reach?

Of course, who you consider your customers will depend on your organization’s business goals. Some folks might look at factors like how long they’ve been a client or how much money they’ve spent. Other things you can consider include: 

• Your oldest clients
• Customers who renew contracts most often
• Clients who have the highest customer satisfaction rates
• Customers who refer your solution to others often
• Folks you’ve cross-sold or upsold to
• Customers with the most profitable deals or biggest accounts

2. Collect data about your target market. 

You’ll also need to do some data gathering about your target market. To do this, teams can collect information using customer discovery methods like intuitive surveys, interviews with clients, and other research. 

3. Ideate and develop some buyer personas. 

Once you have sufficient data, you can take a deeper dive by ideating and creating buyer personas. As mentioned above, these are more in-depth profiles of your ideal clients. For example, buyer personas include information like:

• Client needs and concerns 
• Demographics 
• Psychographics
• Patterns of behavior

4. Pinpoint specific shared qualities of your ideal customers. 

From there, teams can identify the qualities that your ideal customers have in common. Define any common characteristics or traits you notice. For example, some of the shared attributes you might take note of include an organization’s:

• Size
• Location
• Revenue 
• Industry

5. Test your ideal customer profile. 

A key component of creating an ideal customer profile is validating that ICP. In other words, teams should test their ICP by evaluating the existing audience and assessing it against the ideal profile. 

Think about the information you’ve collected so far. Having basic data about your ideal customer profile documented is a must. For example, include any behavior insights like needs, pain points, or decision-making criteria, as well as information about the firm itself, like its industry, size, and so forth. You’ll also want to include your core value proposition with this information. 

6. Revisit, revise, and reevaluate your ICP. 

Although some teams call it quits once they’ve defined their ideal customer profile, the journey shouldn’t stop there. Teams should continuously redefine and iterate the ICP based on any new information, metrics, or insights discovered. 

This will ensure companies create and maintain a detailed, accurate ideal customer profile that will help the organization zero in on the sales and marketing strategies of the most promising clients.

How to Create an ICP With Yoodli 

Learning how to create an ideal customer profile takes practice, especially if you’ve never created one before. Because it often involves effective communication with existing clients, reps need to be on their A-game from the first call. That’s where Yoodli can help.

Yoodli is a virtual sales coach that leans on generative AI to provide an environment for folks to practice getting feedback from customers for a successful ideal customer profile. Big-name companies like Korn Ferry, Dale Carnegie, and Google have all already used Yoodli’s services to boost sales success, namely increasing seller attainment and decreasing ramp. 

In order to create a successful ICP, teams need to understand the importance of effective client communication and feedback. Practicing soliciting feedback from existing clients is a surefire way to create an effective ICP, and there’s no better way to do that than through Yoodli’s realistic sales roleplays. 

During a conversation with a simulated client, reps can engage in small talk, push for feedback, and practice their active listening skills to better understand the ideal customer. Not only that, but Yoodli’s actionable, metrics-based feedback can help people understand how to make these calls more effective without risk. 

Yoodli is also used for at-scale training and implementation. For example, if your company is a large organization, sales leaders can tap into Yoodli to get all reps on the same page before pursuing customer feedback for an ICP. 

Google Cloud recently tapped into Yoodli to get over 15,000 sales reps up to speed and the results speak for themselves. The case study was so successful that Google extended its use of Yoodli into other programs, too. 

Learn how you can create an ideal customer profile by perfecting your efficient communication and customer discovery skills at https://yoodli.ai/. 

Benefits of Having an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

There are a plethora of benefits to having an ICP. From stronger partnerships to better resource allocation and increased revenue, taking the time to build out a customer profile can be a game-changer. Here are some of the best benefits of building an ideal customer profile. 

Boosted customer satisfaction

One of the best benefits of creating an ideal customer profile is the boost in customer satisfaction that can come with it. That’s because creating an ICP can provide teams with a better understanding of their clients. 

For example, when you enhance your understanding of their needs, pain points, and concerns, you can tailor your solution (be it a product or service) to better meet their expectations. This, in turn, leads to boosted customer satisfaction rates. 

Better resource allocation

Many teams across the board struggle with resource allocation. To help with that, strategies like ICP creation or lead qualification can better illuminate where to prioritize your efforts. When you know your ideal customer, you can more efficiently allocate your team’s sales efforts and marketing spend. 

Improved sales efficiency

Not surprisingly, one of the most notable benefits of having an ideal customer profile is improved sales efficiency. That’s because using a targeted approach that’s rooted in your ICP can lead to increased conversation rates. In a similar vein, this can also yield a shorter sales cycle.

More effective marketing

Of course, having an ideal customer profile also means your team can adjust marketing efforts to be even more effective. This improved targeting can assist go-to-market teams in GTM alignment by prioritizing the most promising clients.

Stronger partnerships

An ideal customer profile — when done correctly — can also lead to stronger partnerships down the line. Teams can skip the guesswork and better pinpoint companies that would be beneficial partners based on your target market and ICP insights. 

The Main Takeaway

If your business is looking for a better way to increase growth across the board, a well-defined ICP is critical. Knowing your ideal customer profile can completely elevate your current sales and marketing efforts and help teams reach their clients. 

Understanding the concerns, needs, wants, and pain points of your customers can completely transform not only your product but the way you sell it, too. Just don’t forget to use a sales enablement tool like Yoodli to practice connecting with your ideal client and soliciting feedback for consistent refinement.

Sources

• HubSpot: “Ideal Customer Profiles and Buyer Personas—How Are They Different?”
• Gartner: “The Framework for Ideal Customer Profile Development.”
• Breadcrumbs: “How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile In 7 Steps (With a Free Template).”
• Cognism: “How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) With Template.”