A systematic approach to identifying, prioritising, and engaging accounts that are actually likely to buy.
Prospecting without a clear ideal customer profile (ICP) means spending time on accounts that will never buy. Your ICP is not a wish list — it is a description of the accounts that have already bought, stayed, and grown. Look at your best customers: their industry, company size, tech stack, growth stage, and the trigger that caused them to evaluate you.
Common ICP filters for B2B: company size, industry vertical, funding stage, geography, specific technologies they use, and signals of growth like recent hires or product launches. Document your ICP in a one-page template and review it quarterly.
A good target account list has 50 to 200 accounts, depending on your deal size and cycle. Prioritise accounts by fit score (how closely they match your ICP) and intent (signals that they are actively thinking about the problem you solve).
Refresh your list monthly. Accounts go cold, priorities shift, and new accounts enter your ICP regularly. A stale account list is one of the main causes of poor conversion rates from prospecting to pipeline.
Quick tips
A single cold email has a low probability of getting a reply. A coordinated sequence across email, phone, and LinkedIn over three to four weeks has a materially higher probability because each touchpoint reinforces the others.
A basic five-step sequence: Day 1 email. Day 3 LinkedIn connection request. Day 5 phone call. Day 8 second email with a new value angle. Day 14 final email with a short breakup line. High-intent accounts warrant more touches.
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