Turn an ICP into a scored, prioritized target list.
“I have an ICP on paper and no idea which accounts to call first.”
The firmographic and signal filters, the tiering, the personas per account, and the reason each account earns its spot.
What this skill does
Takes your ideal-customer profile and turns a raw pile of accounts into a ranked list you can work in order. It filters on the firmographics that define fit, layers on the buying signals that mean now, sorts everything into tiers, names the personas to reach at each account, and writes one line on why each account made the cut. You get a list you can defend, not a list you have to trust.
Inputs
- Works today with: your ICP definition and a list of accounts (company name, domain, industry, size, and anything you already know). Paste it or upload a CSV.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads your accounts, owners, and prior activity, so you never build a list that collides with an open deal.
- Sharper with an enrichment tool: fills firmographics, headcount, and technographic data on accounts you only have a name for.
- Sharper with a signal source: adds funding, hiring, and news triggers that separate "good fit" from "good fit, right now."
How it works
- 1Fit filter (hard gates first)
Run the firmographic gates before anything else. An account that fails a hard gate is out, no matter how strong its signals. Size, industry, region, and business model are gates. Everything else is a scoring input. This keeps the list honest and small.
- 2Fit score (0-100)
Each account that clears the gates gets a fit score built from weighted firmographics: how close to the center of the ICP on size, industry, model, and stack. State the weights so the score is readable, not a black box. Two accounts with the same score should look alike on paper.
- 3Signal layer (fit plus timing)
On top of fit, add timing. A recent funding round, a burst of relevant hiring, a new product launch, a job posting for a role your product serves, or a technology change are all reasons to move an account up the list this week. Signal never overrides a failed gate. It reorders the accounts that already fit.
- 4Tiering
Sort into tiers off the combined fit-plus-signal score. Tier A is fit and a live signal, work now. Tier B is strong fit, no signal yet, work steadily. Tier C is edge-of-ICP, work only when capacity allows. The tier tells the rep how hard to lean, not just who to call.
- 5Personas per account
For each account name the roles to reach, not just one contact. An outbound touch that hits one person is one point of failure. Map the economic buyer, the likely champion, and the day-to-day user for each account, so multi-threading is built into the list, not bolted on later.
- 6The reason line
Every account carries one plain sentence on why it is here: the fit plus the signal, in words a rep can repeat. If an account cannot earn a reason line, it does not belong on the list.
Output format
TARGET LIST · 6 accounts scored (illustrative)
Account Fit Signal Tier Personas
Northwind 92 Series B, 30d ago A VP Sales, RevOps Lead, SDR Mgr
Acme Corp 88 Hiring 4 AEs A CRO, Sales Ops, AE
Vertex 81 none B VP Sales, Enablement
Blend Labs 74 New product launch B Head of Growth, PMM
Cirrus 61 none C Sales Lead
Delta Co 58 none C Founder
Work order:
1. Northwind. Fresh raise, full committee mapped. Lead now.
2. Acme Corp. Hiring AEs signals a scaling team. Reach the CRO.
3. Blend Labs. Launch gives a reason to reach out this week.
Tips
- No account on the list without a reason line a rep could say out loud.
- Hard gates run before scoring. A failed gate is never scored around.
- Signals reorder accounts that already fit. A signal never promotes a non-fit.
- Excluded accounts (open deals, customers, competitors) are dropped before tiering, not after.
- A fit score always shows the weights behind it. No number without its inputs.
Turn one signal into a cold email that earns a reply.
From a prospect and a specific angle, writes a short email or 3-touch sequence built on one idea, no filler.
Turn a cold dial into a conversation.
A permission-based opener plus ready turns for the four objections you actually hit on the phone.