Icp Scoring

ICP Scoring

When to activate

You are prospecting B2B SaaS companies and need to qualify leads against a defined ideal customer profile (ICP). Trigger this when: scoring a new lead for outreach tier, prioritizing a prospect list, deciding contact depth for a company, or validating fit before sales handoff.

When NOT to use

• You already have a lead inside a customer success/retention workflow — use churn prevention frameworks instead.
• Prospect is already a customer or active opportunity in your CRM — this is for new prospecting only.
• You are doing lead generation sourcing (finding which companies to prospect) — this is for qualifying companies you've already identified.
• The target company has fewer than 10 employees or is in a hardline disqualifying vertical — scoring is pointless; mark as do-not-contact.

Instructions

3-Layer ICP Definition

Every ICP is defined across three orthogonal dimensions. Score each independently, then combine.

Layer 1: Firmographic Fit (0–40 points)

Objective company attributes that determine structural ability to buy.

Firmographic ceiling: 40 points. A company perfect on all attributes scores 40.

Layer 2: Technographic Fit (0–30 points)

Tech stack and infrastructure signals that indicate product fit or disqualification.

Score based on presence of signals (not absence). Check: public tech stacks (StackShare, LinkedIn, job posts, funding decks), GitHub public repos, job postings for tech roles, founding/funding announcements.

Select the highest-scoring signal category found. Technographic ceiling: 30 points.

Layer 3: Behavioural Signals (0–20 points)

Recent momentum and growth signals indicating buying intent and budget allocation.

Behavioural ceiling: 20 points. Multiple signals are additive up to 20.

Recency Decay (0–10 points bonus/penalty)

All firmographic data becomes stale. Adjust final score based on data freshness.

Example: A 75-point lead with 6-month-old company size data becomes 70 points.

Complete Scoring Model: 0–100

Formula:

SCORE = Firmographic (0–40) + Technographic (0–30) + Behavioural (0–20) + Recency (–5 to +10)
RANGE: 0–100

Hard Disqualifiers (Score = 0, skip all tiers)

Even if other dimensions score high, mark the lead do-not-contact if any apply:

1. Competitor — They build/sell a competing product.
2. Existing customer — Already in your customer base or active trial.
3. Wrong industry vertical — Outside your defined primary/secondary verticals (e.g., government contractor when you target SaaS).
4. Headcount under 10 — Too small to have buying process or budget.
5. Explicit disqualification signals — Public statements against your category; using incompatible vendor exclusively; bankruptcy/layoff announcements indicating budget freeze.

Tier Definitions & Action Playbooks

After scoring (and confirming no hard disqualifiers), route to outreach tier:

Tier 1 (80–100 points)

Characteristics: Perfect or near-perfect fit. ICP match on 2+ dimensions. Recent signals.

Outreach playbook:

• Manual deep research: Read last 3 earnings calls (if public), recent blog posts, CEO Twitter, LinkedIn hiring posts, recent funding announcement.
• Identify 2–3 specific, personalized hooks (e.g., "I noticed you posted 7 engineering roles last month; we help teams like yours reduce onboarding time by 40%").
• Personalized email sequence: 5-touch, 21-day cadence. Custom hook in email 1. Reference specific company milestone in email 3. Social touch (LinkedIn comment on recent post) as touch 4.
• Sales involvement: Assign to named account executive. Use full sales development playbook.

Response rate benchmark: 8–12% reply rate (with personalization).

Tier 2 (50–79 points)

Characteristics: Strong fit on 1 dimension, adequate fit on others. Clear ICP match but may lack recent momentum.

Outreach playbook:

• Template email with 1 personalization hook (e.g., "Your team hired 6 engineers last quarter; we help teams like [similar company] reduce [outcome]").
• Standard 3-touch sequence over 14 days: Email → 5-day wait → LinkedIn message → 3-day wait → Final email.
• No manual deep research; use public signals only (LinkedIn, StackShare, funding announcements).
• Light sales involvement: SDR only, no AE assignment.

Response rate benchmark: 4–6% reply rate.

Tier 3 (20–49 points)

Characteristics: Partial fit. Matches ICP on one dimension only, or weak signals across multiple dimensions.

Outreach playbook:

• Template email (no personalization). Single touch only.
• Batch-and-blast: Send in bulk campaigns. No follow-up sequence.
• Use for list-building and brand awareness, not direct sales.
• No sales involvement.

Response rate benchmark: 1–2% reply rate (expect low engagement).

Below 20 points

Action: Do not contact. Move to "nurture" segment for future campaigns only. Re-score quarterly.

Scoring Prompt Template

Use this prompt structure to score a lead with Claude:

Score this company against our ICP using the attached 0–100 model.

COMPANY: [Company name]
INDUSTRY: [Industry]
HEADCOUNT: [Number] (source: [LinkedIn/PitchBook/etc])
ARR: [Estimated or public $] (source: [how you know])
GEOGRAPHY: [Country/region]

TECH STACK SIGNALS:
- [Tool/platform 1] (source: [job post/StackShare/GitHub])
- [Tool/platform 2]
- [Tool/platform 3]

BEHAVIOURAL SIGNALS:
- Funding: [Series X, $Y, date] (source: [Crunchbase/press release])
- Hiring: [Number of open roles in target department, dates posted] (source: [LinkedIn jobs])
- Expansion: [New market/office/product launch] (source: [announcement])

DATA FRESHNESS: All data verified [date range]

TASK:
1. Score each dimension independently (Firmographic, Technographic, Behavioural, Recency).
2. Identify any hard disqualifiers.
3. Return: TOTAL SCORE, TIER, RECOMMENDATION (contact depth + sequence type).
4. List the top 2 personalization hooks (if Tier 1 or 2).

Format response as:
---
**SCORE: [0-100]**
**TIER: [1/2/3/Do Not Contact]**
**DISQUALIFIERS:** [None / List any found]
**FIRMOGRAPHIC:** [X points] — [reasoning]
**TECHNOGRAPHIC:** [X points] — [reasoning]
**BEHAVIOURAL:** [X points] — [reasoning]
**RECENCY ADJUSTMENT:** [+/- X points]

**TOP PERSONALIZATION HOOKS:**
1. [Hook 1 — specific, time-bound]
2. [Hook 2 — specific, time-bound]

**RECOMMENDATION:** [Outreach playbook and next step]
---

Example

Scenario: Score TechVentures Inc. (Hypothetical FinTech SaaS)

Raw data collected:

Scoring:

FIRMOGRAPHIC (40 max):

• Industry fit (FinTech primary vertical): 20 points
• Headcount (180, in 50–500 range): 15 points
• ARR ($18M, in $5M–$100M range): 5 points
• Subtotal: 40 points ✓

TECHNOGRAPHIC (30 max):

• Core fit: PostgreSQL + Python microservices on AWS/Kubernetes matches modern SaaS infrastructure (15 points).
• No disqualifying signals.
• Subtotal: 15 points ✓

BEHAVIOURAL (20 max):

• Funding (Series B, $45M, Mar 2026 = 3 months ago): 8 points
• Hiring surge (12 Engineering roles, posted <30 days): 8 points
• Expansion (UK office announced, but 11+ months ago): 2 points
• Subtotal: 18 points ✓

RECENCY (±10):

• All data verified in last 30 days: +10 points

FINAL SCORE: 40 + 15 + 18 + 10 = 83 points

TIER: Tier 1 (80–100)

DISQUALIFIERS: None

RECOMMENDATION:

Outreach Playbook — Tier 1:

Personalization Hooks:

1. "You raised $45M in Series B (Mar 2026) and are hiring aggressively (12 engineering roles open). We help FinTech platforms scaling on AWS/Kubernetes reduce infrastructure complexity by 35%—directly relevant as you expand into UK and add headcount."
2. "You built on PostgreSQL + microservices, which is exactly where [our solution] provides the most value. Teams like Stripe and Wise use us to accelerate deployment cycles when scaling across regions."

Email sequence (5 touches, 21 days):

• Day 1: Personalized email. Subject: "[CTO name], TechVentures' growth trajectory + microservices stack." Include funding announcement callout + 1 personalization hook.
• Day 6: Follow-up email. "Did my previous email on UK expansion challenges land?"
• Day 10: LinkedIn message to CTO/VP Engineering (different messaging angle).
• Day 14: Value-add touch: Share relevant case study (FinTech company, similar ARR, scaling scenario).
• Day 21: Final breakup email. "Last chance: Let's talk about your Q3 infrastructure goals."

Sales involvement: Assign to named AE. Book 30-min discovery call target.

Expected outcome: 8–12% reply rate. Target for immediate sales qualification.

End of scoring example. TechVentures Inc. is a go for outreach at Tier 1 intensity.