A Smart Bear · Jason Cohen
articleprincipleSelling to Carol: Why targeting an ICP brings 10x more customers than you expected
7 January 2024Profit
Source excerpt
About A Smart BearTargeting your "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP) is the best way to differentiate and win sales, but does it limit your target market?
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Apollo layer
What a founder can learn
Founder takeaway
Define a narrow ideal customer profile to sharpen positioning and sales rather than trying to appeal to everyone. Specificity can make your value clearer and may attract customers beyond the initial profile instead of simply shrinking the opportunity.
Why it matters
Broad targeting often produces generic messaging. A focused ICP helps founders differentiate, prioritize scarce resources, and build a more repeatable customer-acquisition system.
Put it to work
Write a one-sentence ICP naming the customer, urgent problem, and buying trigger. Then review your homepage and sales pitch: what would you remove or rewrite to make that customer immediately feel understood?
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