Developing Ideal Customer Portraits: A Comprehensive Process
If you are the owner of a software development company, most likely, you are actively involved in lead generation on the social network LinkedIn, or on the freelance platform Upwork. In both the first and the second case, in order to make your lead generation process efficient, you need to create a so-called Ideal customer portrait or, in short, ICP.
What is ICP
ICP is a conditional description of your ideal customer, in which you specify the criteria by which you must understand that the intended company is your ideal customer.
The main criteria that can be used when describing ICP:
- the country in which the company is located;
- the number of employees in the company;
- annual turnover, which is the company’s income;
- market segment in which the company operates;
- basic goods (services) provided by the target company;
- company problems that you can solve with the help of your company’s services
Let’s analyze in detail each criterion:
Country (location) in which your client works
If we talk about the provision of IT-outsource services – then this criterion has the greatest impact in determining the portrait of the ideal client. This importance is due to the fact that depending on the country in which your potential client works, you may be more or less interesting to him. For example, the rating of developers in Poland is approximately equal to the rating in our country, respectively, the opportunity to find potential customers there on your outsourcing services is clearly lower than in countries where the developer’s rating is much higher (eg Switzerland, Norway).
Yes, you can “sell” your domain expertise, but believe me, if your rate is 2 times higher than the rate of a local developer – then for your end customer hiring an outsourcing company does not make sense, because there are many other nuances that you do not have, for example, mentality, the language of the customer company and more.
The size of the company
If the size of your company is 20 people, and the required ICP for you – 1000+ people, believe me, most likely your efforts will be in vain, because the minimum need for developers in such a company may be more than 5 people and, accordingly, you can not immediately provide that number of developers. Also, in large companies, as a rule, when there is a need to provide services, a tender procedure is opened, and they describe their “portrait of the ideal supplier”, in which the size of the company – IT service provider plays a crucial role.
Annual turnover
An important but not decisive factor to consider when describing the Ideal customer portrait. Profits understanding is much more important. Very often, companies that did not make a profit last year – start making it, and, accordingly, plan to expand their IT capabilities, or, companies that do not make a profit plan to “restart” their services and want to invite IT consultants.
Market segment
If your IT company has previously carried out several projects in the field, for example, fintech, it would be logical if you, when describing the ICP, indicate the companies working in this field as a priority. But you need, of course, to further explore the market segment to understand the risks that may be, although some of them are difficult to predict (for example, almost complete cessation of the Travel and Hospitality industries in connection with the pandemic). Such risks can be reduced by diversifying risks by betting on several potential market segments.
Services
Compliance of the services that your company can provide with the services that your potential client may need is a fundamental criterion, because if you have some .NET developers in the company, and you “knock” on LinkedIn to the CEO of Python software development company – your chances are high. Although, if when you compiled your ICP came you bet on solving business problems, then the technology stack is less important than solving business problems, and accordingly, this ICP is right for you.
Optimizing Your ICP Over Time
Your initial ICP is just the starting point. As you engage with prospects and customers, you will gather key insights that allow you to continually refine your ideal customer definition to make it more effective. Here are some tips for optimizing your ICP over time:
- Test different messaging – Create multiple email, social media, or advertising messages that appeal to various segments fitting your ICP criteria. Track open and click through rates to see which resonate best. Also test offering variations.
- Gather customer feedback – After a sale and during early onboarding, politely ask your new customers what ultimately convinced them to buy from you or to try your service. What appealed to them and aligned with their needs?
- Hold quarterly reviews of your ICP – Evaluate the prospects and customers you engaged with over the past 3 months. Are there any common patterns among those who converted to sales versus those who did not? Identify any shared characteristics, problems, or responses to determine if your ICP needs adjustment.
- Analyze your sales process and pipeline – If your sales cycles are longer than expected or leads fail to convert, determine if your ICP criteria incorrectly captures their profile. Capture any disconnects between what your ICP outlines and what real-world interactions demonstrate.
- Make small incremental changes – Only make subtle adjustments to your ICP at a time, changing only 1 or 2 criteria for your next campaign. Test the impact before fully updating your profile. Big dramatic changes can undermine momentum.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of leads and customers is crucial for keeping your ICP dynamic and centered on those most likely to buy from you. Continual optimization through real-world data will pay dividends.
Solving problems (pains) of a potential client
If you do not understand the problems of your potential client, it is unlikely that you will be able to interest him. For example, if you write to the owner of a software company in the west, then you need to have a clear idea of the problems, benefits and even fears of a potential customer, because only then will you be able to write messages that encourage customers to start communicating with you.
For example, the CEO of a software development company in the United States will be more interested in your rating, the lack of a strong difference in mentality, expertise in specific market segments. If you are writing to the director of a garment factory in the UK, then you need to focus on specific problems that you can solve in his company: document automation, creating a website for distributors, building a system of employee training, etc.
Summarizing all the above, we can conclude that creating a correct portrait of the ideal customer is the most fundamental activity that allows you to create and implement a strategy to promote your company in Western markets.
