Sales
ICP and Account Scoring
Define your ideal customer profile, then rank target accounts by how well they fit, so reps spend time where deals close.
- Time: 45 to 60 min
- With: Sales leaders, founders, SDR and AE teams
- You get: A written ICP, weighted criteria and a ranked account list
How to use this worksheet
- Write the profile of the company that gets the most value from you and is easy to win. Start from your best existing customers, not from assumptions.
- List disqualifiers: traits that make a deal a poor fit however interested the buyer is.
- Define 4 to 8 criteria and give each a weight.
- Score your target accounts from 1 to 10 per criterion and work the ranking from the top.
Describe the company, the buyer and the problem you solve for them.
Prompts and example
Ask yourself
- Which 3 customers would you clone?
- What do they have in common that you did not choose?
Example
Regional logistics companies with 50 to 500 staff and their own fleet who still plan routes in spreadsheets. Buyer: head of operations. Pain: late deliveries, overtime, no live view.
Traits that make a deal a poor fit. Say no early.
Prompts and example
Example
Fewer than 20 vehicles. No dedicated dispatcher. Procurement only via public tender.
Criteria and weights
Which traits make an account a good customer? Higher weight means more important.
Prompts
Ask yourself
- Which traits do your best 10 customers share, and your worst 10 do not?
- Which criterion would you never give up?
Score the accounts
Score each account from 1 to 10 per criterion.
Prompts
Ask yourself
- Are your scores based on data or on a feeling? Mark the guesses.
Account ranking
Before you finish
- The profile comes from real customers.
- Disqualifiers are written down and used.
- Weights reflect what predicts a closed, retained deal, not what is easy to find.
ICP versus persona
The ICP describes the type of company you can serve best. A buyer persona describes the individuals inside that company. You need both, but the ICP comes first: it decides which accounts deserve outreach at all.
Revisit the weights every quarter using closed-won and closed-lost data. A criterion that never differs between winners and losers does not belong in the model.
Recommended reading
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- Crossing the ChasmGeoffrey Moore
Why a narrow target segment beats broad reach, the basis of a sharp ICP.
- Predictable RevenueAaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
How specialised roles and a clear process built a repeatable outbound pipeline.
- The Sales Acceleration FormulaMark Roberge
Data-driven sales hiring, training and management from HubSpot's early growth.