Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
How are you determining your ICP?
Do you know what your TAM is?
How important is it to know your audience? Well, most of us wouldn't talk to our fathers the same way we would talk to our best friends, right? Right... (I hope so.) So knowing how to tailor your messaging by persona/account/use-case is incredibly important. Plus, you're gonna have a hard time getting a grasp on your TAM if you don't have your ICP down, and if you don't totally understand your CURRENT buyers.
The thing is, understanding your ICP and addressing your TAM doesn't just benefit executives and "big picture" stuff, EVERYONE from the frontline SDRs up need to understand who you target and WHY. Who are your current customers, which accounts/companies are they with, and why did they buy?
Pro-tip? This might seem obvious, but if you haven't done this already, I'd suggest creating a spreadsheet that everyone on your team has access to where you outline the following by column:
-Current Customers (Company)
-When they closed (date)
-What was that sales cycle like (start to finish dates)
-Why they closed (pain points, what was the need there, how did you address it, was there a competitor involved? etc.)
-Who was on the buying squad (names AND titles - this is key for persona-based messaging!)
-Any details on up-sell/renewals
Again, might seem obvious, but there are PLENTY of companies that don't have a grand list like this one for everyone on the sales + marketing team to refer to for persona-based content creation, use-cases, etc. This list is helpful NOT ONLY when it comes to understanding your ICP, but also when it comes to targeting lookalike cases and ensuring you're not missing out on opportunities by having your deals all in one place to look at and compare.
Know your audience by analyzing your current customers.
Happy selling!
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