ICP + IAP = ❤️

According to the Reels on my Instagram lately, most women’s ideal partner is Jonathan Bailey. Fair enough, but there’s one tiny little thing we need to take into consideration (and it’s not his glasses)...

Most weeks, I’m helping an agency to identify or develop their ICP, or Ideal Customer Profile. Their ICP is essentially a list of attributes shared by the types of client they are best placed to serve.

On occasion, this includes the client’s category or industry, although I’ve previously written about why I think specialising by industry is a red herring.

Most frequently it will consist of things like:

• The company’s turnover
• The job title or responsibilities of the buyer
• The make up of the marketing team
• The objective(s) the client has

…but it can (and thankfully does) vary. I know agencies who specialise in helping companies to get acquired; taking companies from other English speaking markets into the UK; even a company that helps to launch newly-funded cruise operators. There’s someone out there for everyone.

Use a few data sources and you can build a list of all the companies that fall into your ICP. Send them a message and, for some of them, the timing will be just right for a chat about the specific problem they’ve got…which, by no coincidence, is the specific problem you solve. As the conversation progresses it becomes clear (to you) that you’re perfect for this job. But, eventually, the client informs you that they’ve gone with another partner (or you get ghosted). Soon, you see who’s won the work and you’re left scratching your head.

It’s not you, it’s me

It takes two to tango, as they say.

When you’re logging your next opportunity in your CRM and you’re scoring that lead full marks for falling squarely in your ICP, I want you to ask yourself this question: what’s that client’s Ideal Agency Profile?

• Do they want someone who’s local to them?
• Do they want to deal with a career account manager or have direct access to a specialist?
• Do they want an agency who’ll take them out for drinks?
• Do they want an agency who’s worked with a direct competitor?
• Do they want an agency that could do a hundred things for them or just do this one thing really well?
• Do they want an agency that’s worked with their tech stack?
• Do they want an agency that’ll win them awards or one who professes not to care?
• Do they want an agency with a cool office they can hang out in or do they hate the idea that they’re paying for that?

You’ll think of 5, 10, 50 things that aren’t on the list above. Some will feel trivial. One might be the reason why Jonathan Bailey won’t wife you up.

That one - that’s the one you ask about on the very next call: “thanks for talking me through your current partner mix when we spoke last; I did some research and I can see they’re all based in the same city as you, which we’re not. Do you see that being an issue?”

If it’s a real issue for the client, you want them to own up - and own it.

They need to tell you to your face that they don’t mind you being at the other end of the country, so they can’t use that as an excuse not to work together later.

Stay out of convince mode: if there’s a genetic predisposition that means you and Jonathan won’t work out, you’re just going to look desperate. If the client thinks you can’t bear to hear them say “no” then they are going to avoid giving you the bad news and just stop answering your calls.

Soon, you’ll be spotting (and ideally recording) trends: companies in our ICP only work with agencies that have this specific mix of services. Now you know what you need to do next.