Article - What is an ‘ideal client profile’ (and why have one)?

READ: 5 mins

AUTHOR: Ben Potter

Ideal client profile. I use this term a lot. So, I thought it about time I explained what it is, what it looks like and why it’s important.

For context, a quick recap on positioning. Whilst there are many definitions, I describe it as what you do, why you do it and, most importantly, for who. It combines your expertise, beliefs and values to (ideally) create a point of difference in the mind of a buyer…

“Ahh yes, they’re the agency that specialise in helping start-ups make their first million…”

That kind of thing.

An ideal client profile – let’s call it an ICP for ease – is a product of good positioning. It’s a visual representation of your agency’s ‘who’; the sectors, businesses and people where your expertise is best applied.

What does it look like?

Short and simple. Here’s a semi-fictitious example…

Let’s break it down.

This agency specialises in ecommerce, working with online retailers at a particular stage of growth: scaling-up.

Drilling down into the detail…

Sectors

In this example, the agency narrows their audience further by specifying four sub-sectors where they are most experienced (with case studies, awards and so on to back it up).

It doesn’t mean they refuse companies outside of these sub-sectors. But their ideal client – those that they actively target – will be in homeware, health and beauty, etc.

Traits

Whilst an ecommerce brand might tick the sub-sector and scale-up boxes, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be the right fit. Other factors come into play, such as where they are located, the markets they serve, turnover, in-house resource and budget, for example.

Situation

Furthermore, their ideal client will have certain goals and challenges, which dictate what they need from an agency partner. For example, most prospects’ have ‘outgrown a smaller agency or freelancer’, and will therefore need a larger, specialist agency to take them to the next level.

Culture

A few adjectives to describe the ethos and values the agency look for. They know from experience that the closer a client’s culture aligns to their own, the more fruitful the relationship will be for both parties.

Roles

The client-side stakeholders likely have a say in selecting and working alongside the agency.

Of course, you can take this a step further by creating personas that drill down into the specific goals, issues, needs, motivations and desired outcomes of individual buyers. Personas can be particularly useful for subtle tweaks to your proposition when prospecting, for example. But be mindful of adding too much detail, especially when it comes to the personal stuff. I’ll leave it to David C Baker to explain.

Mindset

When thinking about stakeholders, you might include some detail on attitude and outlook. In this example, a prospect who fails to demonstrate a collaborative spirit, or a willingness to have their perspective challenged during the qualifying process, is likely to spell trouble later.

Why is having an ICP important?

Business development is never easy. But it can be made easier.

An ICP achieves this by…

Tightening your ‘go to market’ messaging…

The tighter your audience, the easier it is to create a short and compelling proposition i.e.

We work with…(markets / audiences)

…helping them to…(problems / opportunities)

…that…(benefits / outcomes)

Conversely, if you offer a glut of services to a multitude of different looking clients, boiling your proposition down to a simple one-liner (that is easily grasped internally and externally) is tough. And more likely to have you default to look-a-like territory.

Shaping your business development and marketing activity

With an almost endless array of channels and tactics to choose from, agencies often fall into the trap of doing a lot of things badly, as opposed to a few things well.

A narrower ICP helps solve this problem. Building lists, determining the size of your addressable market and researching prospects are all directed by the ICP.

In turn, this informs how you should spend your time (and money) to target those prospects based on where they hang out, how they buy, who influences their decisions and so on. Clarity comes with focus.

The opposite is true when an agency claims to work with ‘businesses of all shapes and sizes, across a wide range of sectors’. Where do you begin in coming up with a business development and marketing plan that is, in effect, trying to target everyone?

Providing your qualifying framework

An ICP is the basis by which you decide which opportunities to say ‘yes’ and, perhaps more importantly, those where you say ‘no’.

It shapes the due diligence you do when a lead comes in (before you commit to a call), the questions you ask and the means by which you justify moving forward. Or not. Without an ICP, the chances are you won’t be saying ‘no’ nearly as often as you should.

It’s worth saying there will be instances when it makes sense to work with clients that don’t quite fit (the clue is in the name: ‘ideal’). But this should be the exception, rather than the norm.

Final thoughts

Once you define your audience, the impact on business development can be transformational. Again, clarity comes with focus.

A tight ICP is one of the outputs of the work and sacrifice of good positioning.

Sacrifice being the acceptance that if you want to be good at something (and known for it), you can’t be good at doing everything, for everybody.

Do you have an ideal client profile? What do you include in yours?