Before a sales team looks for leads or writes a single email, it needs two answers. Which companies are worth contacting? And which people in those companies take part in the decision? The first answer is the ideal customer profile (ICP): a description of the kind of company that gets the most value from a product. The second is a buyer persona: a short, realistic portrait of one role in the buying decision, such as the head of finance or the IT administrator.
The two canvases below put both on one page each. Fill in the ICP first. Then write one persona for each role that matters, usually two or three.
How to use the canvases
Copy the tables into a document or spreadsheet, or print them and write in the empty column.
Work from evidence: your best and worst customers, sales notes, interviews, lost deals. Next to each answer, note where it comes from.
Keep it short. One or two lines per field is enough. A canvas nobody reads does not help anyone.
Date it and look at it again every few months. Markets and products change.
Canvas 1: ideal customer profile
Field | Guiding question | Your answer |
|---|---|---|
Product or service | What exactly do we sell, in one sentence? | |
Industry | In which industries do our best customers work? | |
Company size | How many employees, locations or how much revenue? | |
Region and language | Where are they, and which language do we support? | |
Business model | How do they earn money, and who are their customers? | |
Technology | Which tools do they already use that we need or connect to? | |
Situation and triggers | What is going on when they need us (growth, new site, new law)? | |
Main pains | Which problems do they feel, in their words? | |
Desired outcome | What does success look like for them, ideally as a number? | |
How they buy | Who decides, how long it takes, is there a tender? | |
Must-have fit signs | Which two or three facts must be true before we contact them? | |
Anti-ICP | Which companies do we deliberately not target, and why? | |
Evidence | Which customers or data back this up? |
How to fill each field
Product or service: describe it from the customer's side. "Online booking and staff rotas for clinics" is clearer than "a cloud platform".
Industry: be specific. "Healthcare" is too broad; "physiotherapy and dental groups" is useful.
Company size: use a range and say what you count: employees, locations, vehicles, beds. Size only matters if it changes whether the product fits.
Region and language: include only places where you can actually sell, deliver and support.
Business model: a company that sells to consumers has different problems from one that sells to other businesses.
Technology: these are called technographics. Name the kind of tool ("an accounting system with an export function"), not a brand.
Situation and triggers: a trigger is an event that makes a need urgent, such as opening a second site or hiring fast. Triggers tell you when to get in touch.
Main pains: write them the way a customer would say them. Quotes from real conversations are best.
Desired outcome: a measurable result helps later in the sales conversation: "fewer than 5 % missed appointments".
How they buy: who signs, who has to agree, and how long it took with your best customers.
Must-have fit signs: keep this to two or three hard criteria. These decide whether a lead is worth any time at all.
Anti-ICP: sometimes called a negative ICP. Listing who you will not chase saves as much time as listing who you will.
Evidence: if a field has no evidence, mark it as a guess and test it.
Canvas 2: buyer persona
Field | Guiding question | Your answer |
|---|---|---|
Role and title | Which job does this person have? (Give the persona an invented first name to make it easy to talk about.) | |
Role in the decision | Decision maker, champion, influencer, user, gatekeeper or possible blocker? | |
Responsibilities | What are they responsible for day to day? | |
Goals and measures | What are they measured on? What does a good year look like? | |
Pains | What gets in their way, in their words? | |
What they need from us | Which result or proof would help them? | |
Typical objections | What will they say when they hear about our product? | |
Information sources | Where do they look for information and advice? | |
Preferred contact | Email, phone, events, through a colleague? | |
Message in one sentence | What should they remember after our first contact? | |
Typical quote | One sentence they might really say. | |
Evidence | Which interviews or conversations is this based on? |
How to fill each field
Role and title: describe the role, not a real person. Titles differ between companies, so add what the job is about.
Role in the decision: in a business purchase, several people are involved. This group is called the buying committee. The decision maker has the final say and the budget. A champion wants the purchase and argues for it inside the company. An influencer shapes the decision with expertise. A user works with the product every day. A gatekeeper controls access to people or information. A blocker can stop or delay the purchase.
Goals and measures: this is often the most useful field. A head of finance measured on costs listens for savings; an operations manager measured on delivery times listens for speed.
Pains: collect real words from conversations. "I spend Friday afternoons fixing the rota" says more than "inefficient processes".
Typical objections: an objection is a reason someone gives for not buying, such as "we have no budget this year". Writing them down helps you prepare honest answers.
Information sources: trade magazines, industry associations, colleagues, trade fairs, search engines.
Message in one sentence: connect their goal to your product. If you cannot write this sentence, you do not know the persona well enough yet.
What to leave out: age, gender, family, hobbies and photos rarely change how someone buys a business product, and they invite stereotypes. Leave them out unless your evidence shows they matter.
Worked example 1: Fabrikam
Fabrikam is a fictional company that sells online appointment booking and staff scheduling software to clinics. Everything below is invented for teaching.
Fabrikam's ICP
Field | Fabrikam |
|---|---|
Product or service | Online booking, reminders and staff rotas for outpatient clinics, 200 euros per location per month |
Industry | Physiotherapy and dental groups |
Company size | 2 to 12 locations, about 20 to 150 staff |
Region and language | Germany, Austria and Switzerland, support in German |
Business model | Patients book treatments in advance; empty slots cost money |
Technology | Already use practice software Fabrikam can connect to |
Situation and triggers | Opening a new location, losing front desk staff, a wave of no-shows |
Main pains | "Our phone line is blocked every morning." "Short-notice cancellations leave gaps." "Planning one rota for several sites takes days." |
Desired outcome | Fewer missed appointments, fewer calls at the front desk, one rota for all sites |
How they buy | Owner and practice manager decide together, usually within four to eight weeks |
Must-have fit signs | At least two locations; patients book appointments in advance; compatible practice software |
Anti-ICP | Single practitioners (too small, often leave), hospitals with public tenders (long, custom interfaces), clinics that want marketing tools |
Evidence | Six best and five worst customers analysed in October 2026 |
Persona: Mara, practice manager
Field | Mara |
|---|---|
Role and title | Practice manager of a physiotherapy group with five locations |
Role in the decision | Champion and main user; the owner signs |
Responsibilities | Staff rotas, front desk, patient complaints, supplies |
Goals and measures | Full appointment books, few no-shows, staff who stay |
Pains | "My front desk spends half the day on the phone." "I fix the rota every Friday afternoon." |
What they need from us | Proof that patients really book online, and help with the setup |
Typical objections | "Our older patients will not book online." "We have no time to switch systems." |
Information sources | Colleagues in other practices, a trade association newsletter, a regional trade fair |
Preferred contact | Email with a short case, then a 20-minute call |
Message in one sentence | "Practices like yours cut front desk calls by letting patients book and cancel online, and the rota plans itself across all sites." |
Typical quote | "If it saves my team one phone hour a day, I can sell it to the owner." |
Evidence | Conversations with the practice managers of three customers |
Worked example 2: Northwind Traders
Northwind Traders is a fictional wholesaler that delivers office and kitchen supplies to companies on a monthly subscription.
Northwind's ICP
Field | Northwind Traders |
|---|---|
Product or service | Monthly delivery of office and kitchen supplies with one invoice and online reordering |
Industry | Offices of service companies: consultancies, insurance agencies, software firms, law firms |
Company size | 50 to 500 employees at one or two sites |
Region and language | Within a day's delivery of the warehouse in Hamburg |
Business model | Office work; supplies are a small cost but a lot of hassle |
Technology | Order through a purchasing system or by email; need electronic invoices |
Situation and triggers | Moving to a new office, growing headcount, a new office manager, a supplier who keeps delivering late |
Main pains | "We buy from six shops and get twenty invoices a month." "Coffee runs out every Thursday." |
Desired outcome | One supplier, one invoice a month, nothing runs out |
How they buy | Office manager suggests, head of finance or purchasing approves; often a trial month |
Must-have fit signs | At least 50 people in one office; in the delivery area; no framework contract with another supplier for the next year |
Anti-ICP | Companies under 20 staff (order too little), large groups with central tenders, businesses needing industrial supplies |
Evidence | Order history of 40 customers and five lost deals, autumn 2026 |
Persona: Jonas, head of finance
Field | Jonas |
|---|---|
Role and title | Head of finance at a consultancy with 180 employees |
Role in the decision | Decision maker: approves new suppliers and contracts |
Responsibilities | Budget, invoices, supplier contracts, monthly closing |
Goals and measures | Lower overhead costs, fewer invoices to process, predictable spending |
Pains | "Every small invoice costs my team time." "Nobody knows what we spend on supplies in a year." |
What they need from us | A clear monthly price, one invoice, a contract that is easy to cancel |
Typical objections | "Our current shop is cheaper per item." "I do not want another long contract." |
Information sources | Finance newsletters, the company's tax adviser, colleagues at other firms |
Preferred contact | A short email with figures, introduced by the office manager |
Message in one sentence | "One supplier and one invoice a month instead of twenty, with a contract you can cancel monthly." |
Typical quote | "Show me the yearly total, not the price of a pen." |
Evidence | Interviews with finance heads of four customers |
Notice how the two personas at Northwind would differ: the office manager (champion and user) cares about nothing running out, the head of finance (decision maker) about invoices and the yearly total. The same product needs a different message for each.
Mistakes to avoid
Describing everyone. "Companies of all sizes in all industries" is not a profile. If the ICP fits almost every company, it does not help you choose.
Writing wishes instead of evidence. "Large corporations" because they sound impressive, when your best customers are mid-sized.
Size only. Two companies of the same size can have completely different pains. Always add situation and pains.
No anti-ICP. Without it, every lead looks worth a try, and the team wastes time on companies that will never buy or will leave quickly.
Personas built on stereotypes. Invented hobbies, ages or photos make a persona feel real but add nothing, and can lead to unfair assumptions.
Real people as personas. A persona is a pattern from several conversations, not a profile of one real person. Do not put real names or private details into it.
Never updating. A canvas from three years ago describes a market that has moved on.
Before you use your canvas
Practise the next step with the buyer personas exercise, or start from customer data in the ICP lesson.