Key takeaways
- Translate the ICP into filters before searching, and note which criteria no filter can test.
- A keyword describing what a company sells is often sharper than an industry label.
- Narrow searches you can read in full beat broad ones you skim.
- Look for people only after a company has passed the fit check.
How do you turn an ICP into company search filters
You turn an ICP into company search filters by splitting it into what a search can test, such as size and location, and what you must check by reading. Write the first half as filter values and keep the second half as a short checklist for the results.
Searching by firmographics gets you a candidate list, not a qualified one. The situation that made your customers buy, such as a new market or a growing team, rarely appears as a filter, so it becomes the reading test.
Why use a keyword rather than only an industry
Use a keyword because industry labels are broad and companies choose their own, so a single label can mix your best prospects with businesses you would never sell to. A phrase for what the company actually sells narrows the list to the ones that matter.
For example, a company selling to logistics firms might search for a phrase like freight audit or warehouse software rather than the whole transport sector. The example is illustrative; the point is to use the words your best customers use about themselves.
How many companies should one ICP company search return
One ICP company search should return no more companies than you will actually read. If the list is too long to review properly, the search is too broad and should be split by region or size.
In Pebbles Ai, a company search returns 25 companies by default and up to 50, which suits this habit: run one combination of filters, read the results, then run the next combination.
How do you find leads that match your ICP once you have the companies
You find leads that match your ICP by searching for the buying roles only inside the companies that passed your reading check. Searching for people first and companies second fills the list with good titles at poor-fit firms.
Check the shortlist against your CRM before that step, so current customers and companies with an open deal stay out. Then choose the roles from your ICP, such as the person who signs and the person who would use the product.
How to find companies that match your ICP, step by step
Keep each search narrow enough to read every result.
- Write your ICP as filters: one keyword phrase, the headquarters countries or regions, the industries and a headcount range.
- Ask the Marketing or Strategy assistant to search for companies with those filters, one combination at a time.
- Read each result, with its website where needed, and drop the companies that fail the parts of the profile filters cannot test.
- Check the shortlist against your CRM so current customers and open deals stay out.
- Pick up to ten companies and run Find fresh leads for the buying roles, with at least one location.
From ICP criteria to search filters
What a company search can filter, and what you still check by reading each result.
| Use as a search filter | Check by reading | |
|---|---|---|
| What they do | A keyword phrase | Their product pages say it in their own words |
| Where they are | Headquarters country or region | Whether they sell in the markets you serve |
| Size | Headcount range | Whether the team you sell to exists yet |
| Sector | Industry | Whether the label matches what they actually sell |
| Situation | Not a filter | News, hiring or launches that make the need timely |
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsDescribe your ideal customer; your assistant finds matching companies, then the right people at up to ten of them. Company search takes a keyword, headquarters country or region, industry and headcount, and returns 25 companies by default, up to 50 per search.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisBefore you shortlist a company, ask an assistant to read its website and summarise what it sells, with numbered citations to the pages it used.
Common questions
Can I search for companies by the software they use?
Not with Pebbles Ai's company search, whose filters are keyword, headquarters location, industry and headcount. A keyword or a look at the company's careers page is the closest substitute.
Is Pebbles Ai's company search billed per company?
No. It uses AI credits according to the size of the task, not a charge for each company returned.
What if the search returns companies we already sell to?
Remove them before looking for people. Checking the shortlist against your CRM is a step of its own, not something to leave to the search.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
