How to Find Companies That Match Your ICP

Start with filters, not names

An ICP describes the kind of company worth mailing. Before you search, translate it into criteria you can actually filter on, such as industry, location, size and business model. If you need help with that step, see how to choose the right company filters. For the full process from ICP to finished list, start with how to turn an ICP into a prospect list.

Where to look for matching companies

No single source covers everything, so most lists combine a few. Company databases let you search on filters directly. Industry directories and association member lists are useful for niche markets. Your own CRM and closed-won accounts show what real customers look like and can seed a lookalike search. Direct web research fills gaps for very specific segments. If you would rather not build the list yourself, Yotru can build a target account list from a defined ICP.

Sample the results before you scale

Pull a random sample of about twenty companies and mark each one as a clear fit, a maybe or a miss. If more than a few are misses, the filters are too loose. Look at what the misses have in common, then add or tighten a filter to remove them. Repeat with a fresh sample until the misses are rare. This takes an hour and can save a great deal of wasted postage.

Learn from your best customers

Your strongest existing customers are the best guide to a good list. Look at what they share: industry, size, region, how they buy. Search for companies with the same traits, and give extra weight to traits that appear in nearly all of them. Be careful with traits that only look common because of how you happened to find those customers.

Common traps

Watch for companies that are no longer operating, subsidiaries listed alongside their parent, the same company under two spellings and industry categories broad enough to pull in businesses that are nothing like your customers. Each of these inflates a list without adding a real prospect.

How big should the list be?

Aim for a qualified list that supports a proper run. As a rule of thumb, that means the low thousands rather than a few hundred. If the qualified pool is smaller than that, run it as a smaller, higher-touch tier instead of stretching the criteria.