Key takeaways
- Fit is judged from facts you can check without talking to the buyer.
- Split criteria into must-haves and nice-to-haves, and keep the must-haves few.
- Three bands, strong, possible and poor, are easier to apply consistently than a points total.
- Park poor fits with a reason rather than deleting them.
What is ICP fit
ICP fit is how closely a company and a person match the customers you serve best, judged from facts you can check without a conversation. It covers the company, such as industry, size and location, and the person, such as role and seniority.
It is a filter on where to spend outreach time. A strong fit is worth researching and writing to properly; a poor fit is not worth either, however easy the email address was to find.
How do you build an ICP fit score
Build an ICP fit score from a short list of must-haves and nice-to-haves, then turn it into three bands rather than a points total. Must-haves rule a lead out when missing; nice-to-haves move a lead between strong and possible.
- Must-have, illustrative: based in a country you can serve.
- Must-have, illustrative: within the headcount range you sell to.
- Nice-to-have: hiring for the role your product supports.
- Nice-to-have: uses a tool you work alongside.
- Person: holds a role that buys or strongly influences the purchase.
How is a lead fit check different from qualifying a lead
A lead fit check asks whether the company and person look like a buyer; qualifying asks whether they have a need, the authority and a reason to act now. Fit comes first and needs only research. Qualification needs a conversation.
Mixing the two causes trouble. A strong-fit lead with no current need is still worth nurturing, and an eager lead from a poor-fit company can swallow weeks of a seller's time.
How do you score leads against your ICP at volume
Score leads against your ICP at volume by applying the same written rule to every lead and recording the verdict in a field you can filter on. Most of the work can happen before leads arrive, by searching only within your size, industry and location bands.
Review the verdicts each month. If good customers keep arriving from leads you marked poor, the criteria are wrong, not the customers.
What do you do with leads that do not fit
Park leads that do not fit with a short reason, and keep them out of outbound campaigns. Deleting them loses the evidence you need when you review the criteria, and a company that is too small today may fit next year.
How to check whether a lead fits your ICP, step by step
Do this before writing a single message to the lead.
- Write your ideal customer profile as must-have and nice-to-have criteria for the company and the person.
- For each lead, check the company's industry, size, location and any trait that signals need.
- Check the person's role and seniority against the roles that buy or influence.
- Mark the lead strong, possible or poor, with one line on why.
- Write to strong fits first, keep possible fits for a second pass and park poor fits.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsThe CRM, in Beta, keeps your ideal customer profiles beside your contacts, with a score badge on records and admin-defined custom fields, such as a Choice field for the fit verdict.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisWhen a company's fit is unclear, ask an assistant to read its public pages and summarise what it does, with numbered citations you can check.
Common questions
Should a poor ICP fit ever get outreach?
Rarely. If a poor-fit company asks to talk, reply politely and qualify in conversation, but do not spend outbound time chasing it.
How strict should ICP criteria be?
Strict on the few things that decide whether you can serve a customer, such as country or size, and looser on the rest until evidence says otherwise.
Can AI check ICP fit for me?
It can gather the facts quickly, such as size, location and what a company does. Keep the verdict rule written down, so every lead is judged the same way.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
