The Missing Customer Criteria
The Missing Customer Criteria
Your ideal customer isn’t just defined by their characteristics, it’s also about their motivation.
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All companies have an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), a profile of the kind of customer they think is perfect for their product/service. Usually this person is described in a narrative about a fictional person that has all the characteristics of the ICP. It’s a useful tool that helps everyone focus on the kind of person you should be targeting.
If you do it well, these ICPs are quite specific and describe the person in rich detail. For example: Barbara is an executive at a Fortune 500 consumer products company who has been in her job for at least two years, and is managing a budget of over $50M… etc. The more specific the better, because it allows you to focus.
However, almost every ICP I see is missing a key characteristic: Do they have an urgent reason to change?
The status quo is a powerful force, and the momentum of business is not easily changed. If you want your customer to change how they behave there needs to be a reason why. Not a reason you give them, but a reason that already exists.
Too many ICPs assume that if a person sees your product, they will immediately see the value and want to use it. That might be true, but if they have no reason to change it’s much easier to suffer through without it. Or, they can put off buying your product into some point in the future which does you no good.
Your ICP needs to be someone who has no choice but to change.
There are a lot of reasons they might have no choice but to change:
Market Forces. When markets make huge shifts, the status quo becomes untenable. When the pandemic threw global supply chains into chaos, supply chain companies needed to adapt or die. There was no way to continue their business as it had been. Most market forces are more subtle, but they happen.
Competitive Forces. If a competitor introduces a radical new product, or a radical new price point, then all other companies need to react. When Apple launched the iPhone, all phone companies had to respond or risk becoming obsolete. These competitive forces create shocks that immediately change the game.
Internal Forces. Companies that are struggling need to change. Maybe they need to cut costs, and do more with fewer people. Companies that are doing amazingly well need to change as well, as they need to keep up with the explosive growth of their business. Whatever the cause, the way they used to run their business isn’t viable anymore.
These are just examples, there are countless reasons that the status quo might not be a viable option anymore. Whatever it is, you need to identify it and use it to narrow your ICP. Chances are, your true ICP is a subset of the ICP you are currently pursuing.
The good news is that you will know you have nailed this when your customers are responding to your product with speed and urgency. Instead of just another product they are considering, you become something they need to have. It shifts your entire relationship with your customer, as you become a fundamental part of their business.
That sounds like an ideal customer to me.
For more on Customers, see: