Building an ICP Based on Reality, Not Vibes
Most companies build their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on a gut feeling. They decide they want to sell to "large fintech companies," but that’s too broad to be actionable. It's a wishlist, not a strategy.
Sales intelligence replaces those assumptions with concrete parameters. Instead of vague categories, you can filter for specific markers: their current tech stack, their most recent round of funding, or the exact size of their engineering department. When you ground your target list in hard data, you stop chasing companies that were never going to buy in the first place. You know they need your product before you even send the first email.
Timing is Everything: The "Why Now"
Even a perfect-fit account won't buy if the timing is off. You need to know which companies are actually in a "buying window." This is where trigger events—specific changes within a company—become your best friend.
One of the most reliable signals is leadership movement. When a former champion takes a job at a new company, or a target account hires a new VP, that’s a massive opportunity. These people usually come in with fresh budgets and a mandate to change how things are done.
Tools like Flux.report specialize in tracking these shifts. Since roughly 20% of decision-makers change jobs every year, your static target list goes out of date fast. If you know a contact who loved your product at their last job just landed a leadership role at a target account, you don't need a cold pitch—you already have an open door.
Personalization That Doesn't Feel Like Spam
We’ve all received "personalized" emails that clearly came from a template. "I saw you are the [Job Title] at [Company Name]" doesn't count as research. It’s lazy, and prospects delete it instantly.
Real intelligence gives you something actual to talk about. Maybe the prospect just spoke on a specific podcast, or their company just launched a new initiative in a region you support. Referencing a recent promotion or a specific project proves you aren't just a bot. It changes the conversation from a sales pitch to a professional outreach, making it much harder for a busy executive to ignore you.
Ending the Sales vs. Marketing Feud
Sales and marketing usually clash because they’re looking at different maps. Marketing wants "brand awareness," while sales wants "leads that actually close."
When both teams use the same intelligence, that friction disappears. If the data shows a target account just hired a new CTO, marketing can immediately pivot their ad spend to show that account relevant case studies. At the same time, the sales team knows it’s the right moment to reach out. This kind of alignment keeps everyone moving toward the same revenue goals instead of arguing over which leads are "high quality."