Lesson 2.2.1
Write an ICP a machine can sort with, not a slide nobody reads
What this costs
Free. Writing, not running.
Before you start
Lesson 1.1.3, company context saved.
Most ICP documents are written to align a team, and they are terrible at sorting a list. An ICP a machine can use has a different job: for any company you put in front of it, it has to produce the same verdict a good salesperson would, without that salesperson in the room.
The test
Take twenty companies: ten you would love and ten you would never sell to. Hand your ICP document to someone who has never worked at your company and ask them to sort the twenty. If they get more than three wrong, the document is not an ICP, it is positioning.
Three things a sortable ICP has
| Element | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Observable criteria | Facts that can be checked from outside the company | Operates more than one physical location. Publishes a careers page. Sells to businesses. |
| Deal breakers | Facts that disqualify regardless of everything else | Is an agency reselling to end clients. Headcount under five. No online presence at all. |
| A trigger | The state that makes a fit into a prospect right now | Hiring a revenue operations role. Recently opened a second site. Exhibiting at a show in the next quarter. |
Turning a belief into a criterion
Worked example · Unusable belief, usable criterion
| What people write | What a machine can check |
|---|---|
| They are serious about outbound | Has at least one person with a sales or growth title, or is currently hiring one |
| They have data problems | Sells into more than one country, or into a market with no dominant database |
| They can afford us | Headcount above 20, or has raised external funding, or operates multiple locations |
| They are the right size | Headcount between 20 and 400 |
| Not a competitor | Their own site does not describe a lead data or list building product |
Check yourself
0 of 2 answered1.What is the test of an ICP a machine can use?
2.Why is "values data quality" a bad criterion?
Try it yourself
Convert your current ICP into observable criteria plus deal breakers. Then run the twenty company sorting test on a colleague.
- You have done it when
- They sort at least 17 of 20 correctly using only what you wrote.
- Credit budget
- Free.