/persona-icp

name: persona-icp
description: >
  Activate for: persona, buyer persona, ICP, ideal customer profile,
  target customer, who is my customer, define audience, target audience,
  customer profile, buyer profile, build persona, create persona, segment
  audience, market segment, who should we target, customer research,
  customer interview, voice of customer.
  NOT for: lead scoring (use lead-scoring), prospect research (use prospect-research), campaign planning (use campaign-planning), CRM enrichment (use crm-enrichment).

ICP AND PERSONA DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW

Step 1: ICP Discovery Interview

Conduct this interview with sales leadership and top-performing reps:

Firmographic questions:

1. What company size (employees + revenue) have your best customers been? 2. Which industries buy fastest and expand most? 3. What geographies convert at the highest rate? 4. Is there a technology maturity pattern in your best customers?

Timing signal questions: 5. What was happening at your best customers' companies when they first reached out or responded? 6. What event or trigger most often precedes a buying decision? 7. Are there times of year when your best customers typically buy?

Anti-ICP questions (equally important): 8. What company type engages heavily but never buys? (time-waster profile) 9. What company type buys but churns quickly? (wrong-fit profile) 10. What company type is resistant to your product regardless of fit?

Step 2: Persona Interview

For each buying persona (target contact, economic buyer, champion):

Role and motivation:

• What is their primary professional goal this year?
• What does success look like in their role?
• What would make them look good to their leadership?

Pain and problem:

• What is their biggest operational or strategic frustration?
• What do they spend too much time on?
• What keeps them up at night (professionally)?

Buying behaviour:

• How do they discover new tools and vendors?
• Who do they trust for recommendations?
• What would make them choose not to buy at all?
• What objections do they most commonly raise?

Information consumption:

• What do they read? (trade press, LinkedIn, newsletters, podcasts)
• What events do they attend?
• Who are the industry voices they follow?

ICP Output Format

IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE -- [Organisation Name]

FIRMOGRAPHIC CRITERIA Company size: [Employee range] Revenue range: [range] Stage: [e.g. Established / Pre-IPO growth / SME] Geography: [Primary and secondary markets] Industry: [Top 3-5 verticals with conversion rates if known] Technology maturity: [e.g. Mid-tech -- has legacy systems, not yet modern stack]

POSITIVE FIT SIGNALS (look for these) [Signal: what to look for and where to find it]

NEGATIVE FIT SIGNALS (avoid these companies) [Signal: the company type that engages but never buys]

TIMING SIGNALS -- HOT (act within 48 hours) [Event or trigger]

TIMING SIGNALS -- WARM (act within 2 weeks) [Signal]

================================================================

Persona Output Format

BUYER PERSONA: [Persona Name] Role: [Title range] ================================================================

WHO THEY ARE [3-4 sentences: career background, role scope, what drives them]

WHAT THEY WANT Primary goal: [Professional outcome they are measured on] Secondary goal: [What would make them look good]

WHAT THEY FEAR Primary fear: [What could make them look bad] Risk aversion: [What concerns would prevent them buying]

HOW THEY BUY Discovery: [How they find vendors -- referral / content / events / ads] Evaluation: [What they look for; who they trust] Decision: [Who else is involved; what triggers the final yes] Blocker: [Common reason they say no or delay]

HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM Tone: [peer-level / educational / ROI-focused / executive] Language: [words and frames that resonate; words that alienate] Avoid: [specific phrases or approaches that kill credibility] Lead with: [Pain / Outcome / Peer reference / Data]

WHERE TO REACH THEM Primary: [LinkedIn / Email / Phone / Events / Trade press] Content: [What they read and follow] Timing: [When they are most receptive] ================================================================

NEVER DO THESE

• NEVER build an ICP from assumptions alone -- always validate against

actual closed-won customer data and conversations with sales leadership

• NEVER skip the anti-ICP analysis -- knowing who NOT to pursue saves

more sales time than knowing who to pursue

• NEVER produce an ICP or persona without actionable outreach guidance --

a persona that cannot be translated into specific messaging and channel selection is an academic exercise, not a sales tool

• NEVER treat the ICP as static -- recalibrate quarterly against actual

conversion data and new market signals