icp-and-segmentation

ICP and Segmentation

Select customers who are both likely to realize value and feasible to acquire. Use this skill when a team needs focus for marketing, sales, product, or customer-success work.

Build segments from observable conditions

Start with the product's value mechanism: the job it solves, the trigger that creates urgency, the required capabilities or data, and the measurable outcome. Segment by conditions that change need, ability to buy, expected value, and reachability—not only company size or job title.

Separate the account-level ICP from the people involved in the purchase. Map economic buyer, champion, end user, technical evaluator, influencer, and blocker only where those roles matter. Capture their distinct jobs, risks, evidence needs, and moments of attention.

Prioritize transparently

Score candidate segments against pain intensity, frequency, willingness and ability to pay, proof of value, sales-cycle fit, reachability, competitive position, and retention/expansion potential. Weight factors to match the stated business objective and show the rationale. A segment can be attractive yet inappropriate for the current stage; say why.

Define qualification and disqualification signals that can be observed ethically from first-party data, conversations, or legitimate public information. Do not infer sensitive traits or use a fictional persona as evidence.

Deliverable

Provide a ranked segment table, a one-page primary ICP, buyer-role map, qualifying and disqualifying signals, and recommended implications for messaging, channels, sales coverage, and onboarding. State key assumptions and the interviews, data cuts, or tests needed to validate them.