Icp Research

ICP research skill

Generate ideal customer profiles for B2B SaaS clients through systematic research and structured output.

Report structure

The final ICP report follows this numbered section order:

Confidence score calculation: Count High/Medium/Low data points. Score 5 if >70% High, Score 4 if >50% High, Score 3 if mixed, Score 2 if >50% Low, Score 1 if >70% Low.

Output dimensions

Research produces structured outputs across multiple dimensions. See references/dimension-schemas.md for complete field definitions.

TAM analysis

Market opportunity sizing with explicit methodology, assumptions, and targeting strategy.

TAM table structure:

Firmographics

Company attributes that define ideal customers with segment deep-dives.

Company segment deep-dive structure:

For each segment (Enterprise, Mid-market, SMB), include:

• Priorities: Key priorities within today's market trends and dynamics
• ICP-fit: Why this segment is a good fit for our product
• Budget & sales cycle: Spending power and typical cycle length
• Unique approach: How we target this segment uniquely
• Proof points: Stats of impact from representatives with URLs and dates

Technographics

Required technology prerequisites and common stack patterns. This section identifies tools that indicate fit or readiness.

Technographics table structure:

Personas

Who buys and uses the product, with explicit Champion and Economic Buyer deep-dives.

Core use case structure:

• Use case statement: 1-2 sentences defining the business process
• Key steps: Numbered steps in the process
• Core scenarios: 3-4 typical scenarios
• Current alternatives: Competitors, Manual, DIY approaches
• Business drivers: What drives the need
• Desired outcomes: What success looks like

Champion deep-dive structure (12 fields):

The Champion is the person who feels the pain daily, drives the evaluation, and advocates internally for the solution.

1. Titles: Title variations with context (e.g., "Manager of X, Senior Y, Lead Z")
2. Department & team size: Where they sit and typical team structure
3. Responsibilities: Key responsibilities in paragraph form (2-3 sentences)
4. Jobs to be done: 3-5 product-agnostic jobs they're trying to accomplish
5. Success metrics / KPIs: How they're measured and what success looks like
6. Challenges: Things that make their job harder (obstacles they struggle with)
7. Pain points: Problems that hurt them directly (negative impact they feel)
8. Current alternatives: How they currently achieve goals without this product
9. Problems with alternatives: Specific issues with current approach
10. Buying behavior: How they typically discover and evaluate solutions
11. Channels & influences: Communities, content, events, and influencers they trust
12. Testimonial: Verbatim quote from case study with name, title, company, and description of product usage

Economic Buyer deep-dive structure (13 fields):

The Economic Buyer is the person who controls budget and makes the final purchasing decision.

1. Titles: Title variations with context (e.g., "VP of X, Director of Y, Head of Z")
2. Department & team size: Where they sit, reporting structure, direct reports
3. Responsibilities: Key responsibilities in paragraph form (2-3 sentences)
4. Jobs to be done: 3-5 business-level jobs they're trying to accomplish
5. Success metrics / KPIs: Business metrics they're accountable for
6. Challenges: Business-level obstacles they face
7. Pain points: Business impacts that create urgency
8. What they actually care about: Beyond stated concerns — what drives decisions
9. Common objections: Typical pushback during sales process
10. What a "no-brainer" looks like: Conditions that make approval easy
11. Buying behavior: How they evaluate and approve purchases
12. Channels & influences: Where they get information and who they trust
13. Testimonial: Verbatim quote from case study with name, title, company

Negative ICP

Identifying who is NOT a fit helps sales disqualify quickly and avoid bad-fit deals.

Intent signals and buying triggers

Observable events or behaviors indicating a company or persona is more likely to buy now.

Sorting rules

Apply consistent sorting across all tables:

Rich description requirements

Every section must include contextual paragraphs, not just tables. All evidence must include URL and access date.

Minimum requirements

Paragraph quality checklist

• Opens with the key insight, not setup
• Includes specific evidence (names, numbers, sources)
• Includes URL and date for all evidence
• Explains the "so what" — why this matters
• Avoids generic language that could apply to any company

Workflow

Phase 1: Data extraction

1. Discover key pages

   Fetch: [domain]/customers OR /case-studies OR /success-stories
   Fetch: [domain]/solutions OR /use-cases OR /industries
   Fetch: [domain]/pricing
   Fetch: [domain]/integrations OR /partners
   Search: site:[domain] case study testimonial
   Search: site:g2.com "[company]" reviews
   Search: site:linkedin.com "[company]" hiring [relevant role]
   

2. Extract raw data per source (record URL and date for each):

   • Customer names and logos
   • Job titles and roles mentioned
   • Industry and company size indicators
   • Quantified outcomes and stats
   • Verbatim quotes and pain point language
   • Use case descriptions and workflows
   • Tech stack and integrations
   • Community and content references

3. Normalize attributes

   Attribute	Normalization rules
   Geography	Map to: US, North America, EMEA, APAC, LATAM, Global
   Industry	Use standard verticals: SaaS, E-commerce, Finance, Healthcare, etc.
   Company size	Revenue bands: <$1M, $1-10M, $10-50M, $50-100M, $100M+
   Team size	Employee bands: 1-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1000, 1000+
   Tech stack	Category + tool name: CRM (Salesforce), CDP (Segment)

Phase 2: Analysis and synthesis

For each segment (by industry x company size):

1. Identify patterns across extracted data
2. Define core use case with steps, scenarios, alternatives, drivers, outcomes
3. Build Champion deep-dive with all 12 fields including Channels & influences
4. Build Economic Buyer deep-dive with all 13 fields including Channels & influences
5. Map use cases to segment-specific needs
6. Identify negative ICP criteria and red flags
7. Identify intent signals at company and persona level
8. Collect proof points with testimonials for personas and segments
9. Document technographics with required and preferred tools
10. Calculate TAM estimate with targeting strategy per layer
11. Identify ICP as highest-priority segment below SOM

Phase 3: Structured output

Generate numbered sections following the report structure above.

Apply sorting rules to all tables (Champion first for personas).

Include rich descriptions with URLs and dates for all evidence.

Include deep-dives for company segments, personas (Champion and Economic Buyer explicitly), and ICP segments.

Input requirements

Required

• Website URL: Primary company website

Optional (improves quality)

Anti-hallucination guardrails

1. Never invent customer names. Only cite publicly referenced customers.
2. Quote verbatim. Use exact customer language in quotes.
3. Mark confidence levels. Tag data as High/Medium/Low confidence.
4. Cite sources with URLs and dates. Include URL and access date for every claim.
5. Acknowledge gaps. Explicit "Not available" for missing data.

Reference files

Quality checklist

• All 12 numbered sections present
• Every section has opening synthesis paragraph
• All tables sorted per sorting rules (Champion first for personas)
• TAM table includes ICP row with targeting strategy
• Technographics section included with Required/Preferred tools
• Core use case defined with steps, scenarios, alternatives, drivers, outcomes
• Champion deep-dive includes all 12 fields with Channels & influences
• Economic Buyer deep-dive includes all 13 fields with Channels & influences
• Persona deep-dives include testimonials with quotes
• Company segment deep-dives include Priorities, ICP-fit, Budget & sales cycle, Unique approach, Proof points
• Negative ICP documented with disqualification criteria and red flags
• Intent signals documented with company-level and persona-level signals
• ICP segment deep-dives include Priorities, ICP-fit, Budget & sales cycle, Unique approach, Proof points
• Customer names sourced from public references only
• Firmographics normalized to standard attributes
• VOC quotes are verbatim with source URLs and dates
• All evidence includes URL and access date
• Confidence levels assigned to all key data
• Data gaps documented with follow-up suggestions