Everybody wants new leads. More clients. More revenue. Or better just more money in the pocket. Who wouldn’t?

Where's my money, Lebowski?

But over the past few years, I’ve seen countless companies hoping to find a "rockstar" salesperson to solve all their problems. Someone who can bring in new business effortlessly, has a huge network of contacts (ready to buy, of course), and ideally, expects little in return. Oh, and wouldn’t it be great if this business guru worked purely on commission, just in case they don’t deliver?

Reality check: It's not that simple.

Sure, maybe you can close a deal or land a new client or two to build a new mobile app or a startup’s website. But here’s the problem - it’s not scalable or predictable. Your personal network will only get you so far. It’s not that scalable. Sooner or later, you’ll realize that building a sustainable lead pipeline requires structure.

Here’s where things get tough: no matter how talented your sales staff is, there are barriers that will slow you down - unless you have a clear strategy. So ask yourself:

  • Who is your target client?
  • Is it a private or public company?
  • Do they operate in B2B or B2C?
  • Where are they located - country, state, or region?
  • Who’s the decision-maker you need to reach?
  • What strategic or operational challenges are they facing?
  • How will your product or service solve these problems?

If you don’t have clear answers, I’ve got news for you.

The good news: You’re not alone. Most outsourcing IT companies are in the same boat, selling to anyone and everyone, hoping to stumble upon their ideal client. Find the sweet spot.

The bad news: You’ve got to do the work 🙂 It’s not easy, but it’s necessary - and fixable. Trial and error is part of the process, but we’ll get there.

The truth is, if you can’t clearly define what you’re selling, who you’re selling it to, and the problem you solve (even if it’s just offering developers at lower rates), your sales and marketing teams won’t be able to figure it out either. This is the foundation. Of sales, marketing and company overall.

Skip this step, and you might as well call your plan a game of roulette - placing your bet on a random number which is called “Strategy” and hoping it lands on the jackpot.

But where to start?

Maybe from Dunder Mifflin?

Stage 1: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Even if you’re a small company without a clear target profile at this time, you can create an ICP by looking at a few key factors:

  • The businesses you’ve worked with or are working with now
  • Companies you’d like to target even though you haven’t got much expertise with (e.g., a new industry or a tech focus like AI 🙂)
  • The types of clients your competitors are working with
  • Market trends (e.g., you’ve found out that Predictive Healthcare is expected to grow in the next few years)

The goal is to study these profiles and understand:

  • What industry are they in?
  • Where are they located geographically?
  • What’s their size in terms of employees and revenue?
  • Are they a startup, scale-up, or corporation?
  • If they’re a startup, what’s their investment round? What is the typical size of investment this company is aiming for?
  • What tech stack are they using or looking to adopt?

For example, you might decide your ideal client is a fintech scale-up in the DACH region, with 50–200 employees, at Series A funding, and generating $10M–$20M annually.

It’s important that your profile is truly focused - not so narrow that there are only a handful of companies in the world that fit, but also not so broad that it encompasses every startup across all industries. Aim for a focus that will allow you to easily identify potential clients in any data provider like Sales Navigator, Apollo, or ZoomInfo - whichever you prefer.

Depending on your company’s scale and existing expertise, you should have at least several distinct profiles. If that feels too generic, you can simply use an app like Apollo or any other provider to input your criteria and see how many companies match.

Once you’ve identified your target profiles, you can move on to the next steps.

In the next article, I’ll cover how to identify buyer personas and craft hypotheses for your outreach campaigns.

Stay tuned!

October 1, 2024