Small manufacturers with 10 to 49 employees in Santa Catarina, where the purchase decision is made by the owner, and the problem is closing the month late and making decisions without numbers.
Free AI tool
Who does your company really sell to?
Eight questions about your best customers. At the end, one sentence that says who you sell to: sector, size, region, who decides and the problem you solve.
8 questionsNo sign-upSentence and profileSaved to your profile with an account
Define my ideal customerExample: Manufacturing
Food distributors with 50 to 199 employees in southern Brazil, where the purchase decision is made by the purchasing manager, and the problem is stockouts caused by late suppliers.
What an ideal customer profile (ICP) is
The ideal customer profile, or ICP, is the portrait of the company that benefits most from what you sell and is most worth serving: it buys without dragging out the negotiation, pays on time, stays and refers others. It describes companies, not people. That is why it covers sector, size, region and who makes the purchase decision inside, as well as the problem you solve for them.
Do not confuse it with a persona. A persona is an invented person, with a name and habits, useful for writing ads. The ideal customer is a criterion for choosing who to talk to. It is not the same as a target audience either: the target audience includes everyone who could buy, and the ideal customer is the slice within it where you sell best.
The most reliable way to find it is to look back, not ahead. Think of the three best customers your company has ever had and look for what they have in common. A pattern almost always shows up: the same kind of company, a similar size, the same pain before hiring you. That is what the questionnaire above organizes. The question about who you do not want to serve is optional, but it is often the most useful: knowing how to say no saves meetings that were never going to become sales.
A good ideal customer is specific enough for someone to think of a name when they hear it. Saying you serve food manufacturers with 10 to 49 employees in southern Brazil helps; saying you serve companies of all sizes across the whole country helps no one. If the result comes out too broad, the tool tells you where to narrow the focus. And it is not forever: review it every six months or when your best customers change.
To go deeper, read how to define your ideal customer and how a business round works.
Where to use your ideal customer
In your pitch
The sentence becomes the "for whom" of your 60-second introduction. Listeners know right away whether they know someone like that.
In prospecting
Sector and size become list filters. You stop approaching companies that will never buy and gain time for the ones that will.
In referrals
Nobody refers someone who serves everyone. With a clear focus, partners and customers think of you when the right case comes up.
In business rounds
Saved to your company profile, the ideal customer counts toward the conversations suggested between buyers and sellers.
Ideal customer examples by sector
Five fictional companies, from five sectors. Notice that they all state the type of company, the size, where it is, who decides and which pain they solve.
Clinics and laboratories with 10 to 49 employees in southeastern Brazil, where the purchase decision is made by the managing partner, and the problem is scheduling and billing in spreadsheets that do not talk to each other.
Food distributors with 50 to 199 employees in southern Brazil, where the purchase decision is made by the purchasing manager, and the problem is stockouts caused by late suppliers.
Commercial buildings and clinic chains in Belo Horizonte, where the purchase decision is made by the property manager, and the problem is equipment breaking down without preventive maintenance.
Agencies and engineering firms with 5 to 30 people, where the purchase decision is made by the owner, and the problem is billing well without knowing where the money goes.
Ideal customer by sector
Frequently asked questions
What is an ideal customer profile (ICP)?
ICP stands for Ideal Customer Profile: the profile of the company that benefits most from what you sell and is most worth serving. It describes companies (sector, size, region, who decides), not an invented person, as a persona does.
What is the difference between an ideal customer and a target audience?
A target audience is broad: every company that could buy. The ideal customer is the slice within it where you sell faster, with better margins and fewer headaches. That is where your time and referrals should go.
Does defining an ideal customer mean losing sales?
No. You keep serving whoever comes along; you just start actively looking for those most likely to close. And you become easier to refer: nobody remembers someone who serves everyone.
Do I need to sign up to use it?
No. The result appears on screen without signing up. With a free account, you save the ideal customer to your company profile, and it starts guiding the conversations suggested in business rounds.
What happens to what I type?
The text goes to the artificial intelligence service that writes your ideal customer sentence and is not stored, unless you ask to save it to your company profile.
How often should I review my ideal customer?
Every six months, or when the company launches a product, changes its prices or notices that its best customers have changed. Redoing it takes three minutes.
Know who your customer is? Talk to them
In an online business round you have several short meetings with companies looking for what you offer. Your company's first round is on us, with just your CNPJ (Brazilian company tax ID).