---
title: "Ideal customer profile (ICP): an example"
url: "https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/ideal-customer-profile.md"
canonical_url: "https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/ideal-customer-profile"
last_updated: "2026-10-19"
type: "conceptual"
summary: "An ideal customer profile describes the kind of company that gets the most value from your product. See how to write one and test accounts against it."
related: ["https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/buyer-persona.md", "https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/firmographics.md", "https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/list-building.md"]
---

# Ideal customer profile (ICP): an example

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An ideal customer profile describes the kind of company that gets the most value from your product. See how to write one and test accounts against it.

**What is an ideal customer profile?**

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a written description of the type of company that gets the most value from what you sell and is easiest to win and keep. It is about companies, not individual people, and it tells you whom to put on a prospect list and whom to leave off.

Group: 1. Targeting.

## The parts

1. **Company traits**: Company size, sector, place and the software it already runs. These are facts you can check before you write a single email.
2. **The problem and its trigger**: The situation that makes your product urgent, such as opening a second location or switching a system. A trait list without a trigger finds companies that fit on paper and never act.
3. **Proof from your own wins**: The best ICPs are built from the customers you already keep, not from a guess. Look at who stayed longest and who closed fastest.
4. **Clear exclusions**: A good profile also says who is a poor fit, so a list does not fill up with companies that will never buy.

## Worked example: Ledgerline, payroll software for dental clinics

Ledgerline is a made-up company. It writes four ICP criteria and tests three candidate accounts against them. A candidate that meets all four goes on the list first.

1. The criteria are: 10 to 80 employees; Two or more clinic locations; Uses a practice management system; Pays staff hourly.
2. Harbor Smile Group meets 4 of 4 criteria.
3. Oak Street Dental meets 3 of 4 criteria.
4. Summit Orthodontics meets 1 of 4 criteria.
5. Only 1 candidate meets every criterion, so that account is contacted first.

Three candidate accounts tested against four criteria

| Account | 10 to 80 employees | Two or more clinic locations | Uses a practice management system | Pays staff hourly | Criteria met |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Harbor Smile Group | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
| Oak Street Dental | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 3 of 4 |
| Summit Orthodontics | No | No | Yes | No | 1 of 4 |

## How to apply it

1. List your five best customers and write down what they share: size, industry, tools and the event that made them buy.
2. Turn the shared traits into three to six criteria that can be checked from public information.
3. Write two or three exclusions for companies you have lost or churned, so they stay off the list.
4. Build your prospect list from the criteria, and review the profile after every batch of replies and closed deals.

## Common mistakes

- Describing a person ("a busy founder") instead of a company, which cannot be turned into a list filter.
- Making the profile so wide that it matches nearly everyone, so no message can be specific.
- Writing it once and never revisiting it after real replies and closed deals show who actually buys.

## Related terms

- [Buyer persona](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/buyer-persona.md): A buyer persona is a brief portrait of the individual who evaluates, recommends or signs off on your product, written from real conversations rather than guesses.
- [Firmographics](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/firmographics.md): Firmographics are the facts that describe a company, such as its industry, number of employees, revenue band, location and age.
- [List building](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/list-building.md): List building is the work of collecting the companies and contacts you plan to reach, then cleaning and filtering them until every row matches your profile and has an email address you can use.

## Keep reading

- [Prospect lists in ColdMeetings](https://coldmeetings.com/product/prospect-lists.md)
- [B2B sales prospecting](https://coldmeetings.com/blog/b2b-sales-prospecting.md)
- [Market size calculator](https://coldmeetings.com/tools/market-size.md)

## Questions

### How is an ideal customer profile different from a buyer persona?

An ICP describes the company you want to sell to. A buyer persona describes the person inside that company who evaluates or uses your product. You need the company first, then the person.

### How many criteria should an ICP have?

Three to six is a workable range. Fewer than that matches too many companies, and many more makes the list too small to be useful.

### Can a company have more than one ICP?

Yes. If two kinds of company buy for different reasons, write two profiles and use a different message for each.

### How often should I update it?

Review it after each batch of outreach and again when you close or lose a deal. Replies and wins are the best evidence of who really fits.

Questions about outbound for your own company? Email hello@coldmeetings.com.

## Related

- [Buyer persona: definition, parts and example](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/buyer-persona.md)
- [Firmographics: definition and example](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/firmographics.md)
- [List building: definition, steps and example](https://coldmeetings.com/glossary/list-building.md)