Module 02
ICP & Segmentation
Define exactly who you sell to — and who you deliberately don’t.
Questions this topic answers
- Which accounts fit?
- How do buying roles change the ICP?
- Who do we target first?
OEM, Distributor, End User, or Contractor?
The same product can move through an OEM, a distributor, an operating site, or a project contractor; each relationship creates a different buying path. This framework helps B2B teams classify the role an account plays before they responsibly prioritize it.
Framework
The Four Layers of a Useful B2B ICP
A useful ICP must explain more than what a company is. It should identify the account unit, the real application, the commercial relationship, and the evidence needed to act. This guide turns those four layers into a repeatable qualification method.
Guide
One Product, Multiple ICPs
One product can solve different problems for different accounts, but that does not mean every use deserves its own ICP. This guide shows how to split distinct buying systems while preserving one coherent product strategy in practical B2B execution planning.
Guide
How to Choose a Primary ICP Without Ignoring Secondary Opportunities
Focus does not require pretending that only one segment can buy. It requires choosing where evidence, fit, access, and serviceability justify concentrated work and giving every secondary segment a clear state instead of a vague place in the backlog today.
Guide
Account ICP vs. Contact Persona: What Each One Must Explain
An account can fit even when the first contact is wrong, and a relevant job title can sit inside a company that should never have been targeted. This explainer separates the two decisions and shows how to connect them without confusing activity with fit.
Explainer
How to Write an ICP Hypothesis That Can Be Proven Wrong
An ICP that can explain every result cannot guide a decision. A useful hypothesis names the account, application, relationship, evidence, and conditions that would show the profile is wrong before the team invests in broad prospecting, allowing it to scale only what survives.
Framework
How to Turn an Account Universe into an ICP-Qualified Account List
An account universe is the starting population, not the outreach list. This guide shows how to preserve its source and unit while applying application, relationship, serviceability, and evidence gates to produce a smaller, auditable ICP-qualified account list for governed execution.
Guide
NAICS, SIC, and Industry Labels: How to Classify Accounts Without Losing the Buyer
Industry codes make account populations searchable, but different systems, versions, and record units can produce conflicting labels. This guide shows how to retain official classifications while adding the application and commercial context an ICP actually needs before the list is activated.
Guide
Company Size Is Not One Number: Revenue, Employees, Sites, and Operating Scale
Revenue, employees, sites, lines, assets, and operating hours describe different kinds of scale. A useful ICP chooses the measures that connect to product use and buying complexity instead of letting one easy database field decide account fit at account level.
Explainer
Firm, Establishment, Facility, and Parent Company: Which Record Should Your ICP Use?
The company in a database may be a parent, legal entity, statistical enterprise, establishment, location, or physical facility. Choosing the wrong unit creates duplicate accounts, false applications, and misrouted outreach. This guide shows which record should carry each ICP decision across the pipeline.
Guide
How to Segment Manufacturers by Process, Application, and Production Environment
Two companies can share a NAICS code and still run different processes, use different equipment, and buy for different reasons. This framework shows industrial sellers how to move from industry classification to a verifiable, application-level manufacturing segment while keeping uncertain evidence visible.
Framework
How to Use Installed Base, Equipment Age, and Maintenance Model in an ICP
Installed equipment can reveal compatibility, service requirements, and replacement exposure that an industry code cannot. This guide explains how to use asset population, age bands, duty, and maintenance ownership in an ICP while keeping uncertain timing explicitly Unknown at the correct facility level.
Guide