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Ideal Customer Profile Template (B2B ICP)

Summary, deal evidence by segment, firmographics, technology fit, buying triggers, buying group, disqualifiers, fit score with tiers, team use

마케팅표준idealcustomerprofile

사용법: Use it when marketing and sales need one shared definition of the best-fit account. Fill the evidence table from closed deals first, then the disqualifiers. The main pitfall is defining the ICP by deal size alone.

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Ideal Customer Profile: [Product or business unit]

A business-to-business ideal customer profile (ICP): the kind of organisation that gets the most value from the product, buys fastest and stays longest, described by firmographics, technology, buying triggers and disqualifiers, backed by evidence from won and lost deals, and turned into a fit score sales and marketing can apply. Based on common business-to-business marketing and sales practice. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

FieldValue
Document ID[ICP-YYYY-01]
Product or unit[Name]
Version[0.1]
Status[Draft / Approved / Superseded]
Owners[@marketing-lead], [@sales-lead]
Reviewers[@customer-success-lead], [@revops]
Evidence periodYYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD
Last updatedYYYY-MM-DD
Next reviewYYYY-MM-DD

Revision history

VersionDateAuthorChange
0.1YYYY-MM-DD[@owner]First draft from deal analysis
[0.2] (Example)YYYY-MM-DD[@owner]Moved 1,000+ employees to "stretch" tier after win-rate review

1. Summary

[Example: Larkspan's ideal customer is a company with 200 to 999 employees that already runs a mid-market ERP, processes more than 1,500 supplier invoices a month by hand or by email, and has just added a finance leader or entities. They feel the pain at month-end close and can buy within a quarter.]

2. Evidence

Closed opportunities by segment (Example, 24 months):

SegmentOpportunitiesWonWin rateAverage contract valueMedian cycle (days)12-month logo retention
200 to 999 employees, ERP in use602745.0%$18,0006294%
50 to 199 employees901820.0%$7,5004881%
1,000+ employees30413.3%$42,000140Too few to judge
Total1804927.2%

Read: the first segment produced 486,000ofthe486,000 of the 789,000 new contract value won (27 x $18,000), with the highest win rate and retention.

Other evidence used:

  • [Example: 14 interviews with customers in the top retention quartile]
  • [Example: 22 coded win-loss interviews, see sales/win-loss-analysis]
  • [Example: support ticket volume by segment in the first 90 days]

3. Firmographics

AttributeIdealAcceptableMust-have?Data source
Employees (Example)200 to 999100 to 199YesCompany data provider, LinkedIn
Industry (Example)Wholesale distribution, light manufacturing, multi-site servicesProfessional servicesNoProvider industry code
Region (Example)Markets where we invoice in local currency: UK, Ireland, USEU countries with partner supportYesHeadquarters address
Legal entities (Example)2 to 101NoCompany registry
Ownership (Example)Private or private-equity backedListedNoPublic sources
[attribute][ideal][acceptable][Yes / No][source]

4. Technology and operating situation

AttributeIdealWhy it mattersHow to detect
ERP (Example)One of our three native integrationsSetup in weeks, not monthsDiscovery question, job postings
Invoice volume (Example)Over 1,500 per monthEnough volume for clear time savingsDiscovery question
Current process (Example)Email inbox and spreadsheetsLargest gap to closeDiscovery question
[attribute][ideal][why][how]

5. Buying triggers

Trigger IDTriggerWhy it creates urgencySignal sourceTypical window
TRG-01 (Example)New finance leader hiredNew leaders review processes in their first 90 daysJob change alerts30 to 120 days after start
TRG-02 (Example)Acquisition or new entityInvoice volume and approval chains growNews, company registry0 to 6 months
TRG-03 (Example)ERP migration announcedProcess redesign is already under wayJob postings, partner referralsDuring project planning
TRG-04 (Example)Audit finding on paymentsControl gap must be fixedCustomer conversation onlyNext audit cycle
[TRG-05][trigger][why][source][window]

6. Buying group

RoleTypical titleCares aboutPersona link
Economic buyer (Example)Chief financial officerClose speed, control, cost[product/persona file]
Champion (Example)Accounts-payable managerFewer manual steps, fewer late fees[persona]
Technical evaluator (Example)ERP or IT leadIntegration, security review[persona]
[role][title][cares about][link]

7. Disqualifiers

IDDisqualifierReasonEvidence
DQ-01 (Example)ERP with no supported integration and no budget for oneImplementation stalls, churn risk5 of 6 churned accounts in this group
DQ-02 (Example)Under 300 invoices a monthValue too small to justify priceWin-loss coding
DQ-03 (Example)Requires on-premises hostingProduct is cloud onlyProduct policy
[DQ-04][disqualifier][reason][evidence]

8. Fit score

CriterionPointsRule
Employee band (Example)2525 if 200 to 999; 10 if 100 to 199; 0 otherwise
Supported ERP (Example)2020 if native integration; 0 otherwise
Invoice volume (Example)2020 if over 1,500 a month; 10 if 300 to 1,500
Active trigger (Example)2020 if any TRG within its window
Region (Example)1515 if UK, Ireland or US; 5 if partner-supported EU
Maximum100

Tiers (Example): A = 75 or more (named account plays), B = 50 to 74 (programmatic marketing), C = under 50 (nurture only). Any disqualifier overrides the score.

Worked scores (Example): an account with 400 employees, a supported ERP, 900 invoices a month, a new CFO and a UK head office scores 25 + 20 + 10 + 20 + 15 = 90 (tier A). One with 400 employees, an unsupported ERP, 2,000 invoices, no trigger and a US head office scores 25 + 0 + 20 + 0 + 15 = 60 (tier B), but DQ-01 applies if there is no integration budget.

9. How teams use the ICP

TeamUseOwner
Marketing (Example)Target account lists, ad audiences, content topics by trigger[@demand-gen]
Sales development (Example)Prioritise tier A, open with the active trigger[@sdr-lead]
Sales (Example)Qualify out disqualifiers in the first call[@sales-lead]
Product (Example)Integration roadmap follows ICP ERPs[@pm]
[team][use][@owner]

Data handling: build account lists from business data sources whose terms allow this use, and treat contact-level data as personal data under the privacy rules that apply (see marketing/email-campaign-brief section 3 before mailing any list).

10. Review and validation

  • Win rate, cycle and retention for tier A beat tiers B and C in the last two quarters.
  • Sales agrees disqualifiers still hold; any exceptions logged with outcome.
  • Sample sizes stated; segments with fewer than [Example: 20] opportunities marked as low confidence.

11. Related templates

product/persona, marketing/messaging-framework, marketing/go-to-market-plan, marketing/marketing-plan, marketing/competitive-battlecard, sales/win-loss-analysis, sales/account-plan, mba/mba-segmentation-clustering-card, business/market-research-report.

Standard and licence note

Based on common business-to-business marketing and sales practice for ideal customer profiles (firmographic and technographic criteria, buying triggers, disqualifiers and fit scoring). The structure, text, scoring method and fictional Larkspan figures are original and are one possible method. Template licence: MIT.

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