The Unacceptable Customer Profile
Hank Barnes
Chief of Research-Tech Buying Behavior, Gartner - Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities Surrounding Tech Buying Decisions
I've tried and I will keep on trying to convince people that Ideal Customer Profiles need to be more than about firmographics and level of spending with you. Sure you can use intent too, but that is a point in time. Great ideal customer profiles look at other attributes that make a company a great fit for you.
But maybe there is something easier. Ideal is scary. "What if we ignore people that could be real opportunities."
So let's go in the other direction.
When we advise on building an ICP (and this is an application of ideas from Bob Apollo ), we always suggest capturing attributes that would make a customer unacceptable (you can also do the deviation in between--The Acceptable Customer Profile).
The Unacceptable Customer Profile (UCP) may be as important as the ideal. It reflects the situations that you know will never close (or are very unlikely to close). They identify the customers that, even if you do close a deal, will be such a lousy relationship that it will churn quickly (best case) or cost your company much more than any revenue generated. The latent effect of these customers on morale, focus, and energy can sometimes be immeasurable.
It is probably easier to identify your UCP. A customer that has just deployed a competitive product (and it is too early to be frustrated) is an easy one (although this customer could change over time). But other attributes may play. A customer who demands customization when you are trying to standardize. In the old days, walking into a UNIX shop with a Windows solution was a waste of time. And the list goes on.
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It might also be customers with needs that are either too complex or too simple to be relevant.
Ideal customer profiles help you put your energy into the best situations for your business. UCPs help you not waste energy on bad situations.
If you can't refine your ICP beyond firmographics, at least create an Unacceptable Customer Profile and stick to it.
The impact could be as great as a great ICP.
The articles in this newsletter do not follow Gartner's standard editorial review. All comments or opinions expressed here are mine and do not represent the views of Gartner, Inc. or its management.
Retired!
7 个月Excellent insight Hank! David Brock- spot on! Once again, you give marketers and content creators clear and actionable recommendations which can translate into effective programming and properly targeted content. I especially agree with this thread that marketers must be "maniacal" in the rigor and discipline they use in their UCP process. When properly used, UCPs contribute to greater ROI and other high-value business outcomes.
The Anti-Consultant for Sales-led SaaS Scaleups → Clarity, No BS, Guaranteed Results | Author of The Remarkable Effect | Client stories in About
7 个月Such a powerful question indeed. We often don't know what we want (therefore leave it vague), but we know very well what we DO NOT want. Getting that clear is extremely clarifying. And then making decisions suddenly becomes a lot easier. One thing to add. Ensure you go beyond the obvious arguments like "companies smaller than this, or companies larger than that" the art is in spelling out * what they care about that you don't care about * what they want that you're not prepared to give * what behaviors they showcase that irritate you * what they value that you don't value etc...
Brilliant….
Chief Operating Officer @ SIS Holdings Group, LLC | "Bringing Order To Chaos" | M&A IT Integration with a Cybersecurity First Approach | Complex PPM | Energy, Utility, Manufacturing | JV, PE & PortCos
7 个月Thanks for sharing Hank - fully agree. Qualifying out early saves a lot of wasted cycles that could be better spent putting our energies into the best situations for our businesses. Stephen Webster Rod Johnson William Rhodes David Cherry SIS Holdings Group, LLC
Human2Human approach to book sales calls and fill your pipeline via LinkedIn. No pushy tactics, no cold calling, #nobots. CEO, PropelGrowth
7 个月We’ve been using this approach for the last couple of years. Each time a client churns, we evaluate them internally to figure out what attributes we can identify to help us weed out those clients before they enroll. It’s not simple demographics. It’s an attitude, culture, belief system that makes them unsuccessful. So screening for it is not as simple as just looking at data.