How to define an ICP that sales and marketing actually agree on

Ask sales and marketing who the Ideal Customer Profile is and you often get two different answers. Marketing talks about industries and company size. Sales talks about deals that closed and buyers they like working with.

When those two views are not aligned, outbound fails quietly. Leads look good on paper but do not convert. Sales blames lead quality. Marketing blames follow up.

Defining an ICP that both teams agree on is not about compromise. It is about structure.

Why most ICPs fail in practice

Most ICPs are too abstract.

They describe a company type, but not a buying situation. They focus on who the customer is, but not why they buy or when they are likely to engage.

This leads to two problems. Marketing optimizes for volume and reach. Sales optimizes for conversations that feel real. Both think they are right.

An ICP only works if it helps both teams make better decisions every day.

Start with closed deals, not assumptions

The fastest way to align sales and marketing is to start with reality.

Look at deals that actually closed. Not the biggest ones only, but the cleanest ones. The deals that moved fast, felt easy, and led to good customers.

Ask simple questions.

Which companies closed fastest
Which buyers were easiest to work with
Which deals had the least friction
Which customers stayed and expanded

Sales usually knows these answers instinctively. Marketing needs them documented.

Separate company fit from buying fit

A common mistake is mixing fit with intent.

Company fit answers whether a company could be a customer. Buying fit answers whether they are likely to become one now.

Your ICP needs both.

Company fit includes things like industry, size, geography, and structure. Buying fit includes signals like growth, hiring, tooling changes, internal pressure, or timing.

Sales cares deeply about buying fit. Marketing often stops at company fit. Alignment happens when both are defined.

Define roles, not just job titles

An ICP is not complete without clarity on who buys.

Job titles alone are misleading. The same title can mean different responsibilities in different companies. Instead, focus on roles in the buying process.

Who feels the problem
Who owns the budget
Who influences the decision
Who blocks the deal

Sales usually knows which roles actually respond and show up. Marketing needs this input to avoid attracting the wrong contacts.

Write the ICP as rules, not personas

Personas sound nice, but they rarely guide action.

An ICP should be written as a set of rules that systems can use.

Examples include.

We only target companies with more than a certain team size
We exclude agencies or consultants
We only target teams with in house ownership
We only target roles with direct responsibility

If a rule cannot be enforced in your data or tooling, it is not useful.

Agree on who not to target

Alignment often comes from exclusion.

Ask sales which leads they never want to talk to again. Ask marketing which segments look good but never convert.

A strong ICP clearly defines who you do not target. This protects time, brand, and deliverability.

Saying no is part of focus.

Turn the ICP into a shared system

An ICP should not live in a slide deck.

It should live in your CRM, enrichment workflows, website routing, and outbound logic. When a lead enters the system, the ICP should decide what happens next.

If sales and marketing use different definitions in different tools, alignment will always break.

Review and adjust together

Markets change. Products evolve. ICPs should too.

Set a cadence where sales and marketing review what is working and what is not. Use data, not opinions.

When both teams own the ICP together, it becomes a tool instead of a document.

Final thought

An ICP that sales and marketing agree on is not about perfect wording. It is about shared rules, shared signals, and shared accountability.

At Noord50, we see this as the foundation of every outbound system we build. When the ICP is clear and enforced, everything else becomes easier. Targeting improves, messaging sharpens, and pipeline becomes predictable.