Start with the buying job
An industry and an employee range describe a market, not an account strategy. Add the problem you solve, the conditions that make it expensive enough to address, and the people who can change it. The result is a market definition a revenue team can use to choose accounts and conversations.
For an established B2B team, the buying job might be making qualified pipeline measurable or making inbound demand usable for sales. A marketing leader may own the problem, while sales operations controls the routing and finance questions the reported value. Treat those roles as different contributions to one decision.
Define minimum fit
Use current company evidence and a short list of inclusion and exclusion rules. Record business model, ability to benefit, organizational capacity, geographic scope and the economics needed to support the work. Make inferred rules visible until actual outcomes support them.
Review won deals alongside losses and disqualifications. Ask what distinguished the accounts, then check whether coverage or the team's preferences influenced the result. A pattern from a few familiar customers is a useful hypothesis, not a validated universal ICP.
Separate the account from the moment
| Account state | Sensible next move |
|---|---|
| Strong fit, relevant recent change | Investigate a Signal-led campaign or Tier 1 ABM |
| Strong fit, no known timing | Relevant Volume motion or a watch list |
| Known relationship, useful reason to reconnect | Micro campaign or personal reactivation |
| Weak fit, high engagement | Research or exclude; activity does not repair fit |
| Existing customer or open opportunity | Work through the current owner |
Record signal source and event date. An appointment, product launch or hiring pattern can justify research. It does not prove dissatisfaction, budget or private priorities.
Map the buying group
Identify the role, why it matters and what evidence would move its decision. Common roles include the problem owner, economic buyer, technical evaluator, day-to-day user and procurement or security reviewer. One person may fill multiple roles; a title alone cannot establish authority.
- Problem owner
- Growth leader: needs a defensible pipeline number
- Workflow owner
- Sales operations: checks routing, fields and handoffs
- Economic buyer
- Revenue leader: evaluates commercial value and capacity
- Evaluator
- Security or systems owner: reviews access and data handling
- Unknown
- Who signs, current budget and buying timeline still need a conversation
Map missing roles before sourcing more contacts. Do not assume every stakeholder needs the same message or that more threads are always better. In an active deal, coordinate with its owner before opening another conversation.
Choose the motion
Volume needs a useful offer and a commercially coherent segment. Signal-led adds a verified reason for timing. Micro campaigns work with warm, high-touch cohorts such as event attendees or former conversations. Tier 1 ABM justifies account-specific depth when the economics and relationship make it worthwhile.
Choose the motion after fit, timing and ownership are understood. Buying a tool or finding a contact list first reverses the decision. The outbound playbook shows how these motions differ in practice.
Keep the definition usable
Put rules, exclusions, examples, uncertainties and version history in the company brain. Let the CRM carry operational fields and ownership. Preserve the reason for an account's inclusion so a rep can challenge it without deciphering a hidden score.
Track qualified conversations, rejected accounts and deal outcomes by segment. Record sample size and mature outcomes before changing the model. Use score calibration when the evidence warrants a revision, and TAM mapping to apply the definition across the market.
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