Sabotaging Your G2M Strategy? Uncover the Hidden Costs of unclear ICPs

Marketers excel at operationalising strategy and planning, but too often, execution falters due to a lack of deep customer understanding. A solid go-to-market approach begins with a comprehensive understanding of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)—not just the basic demographic data, but the deeper insights into your buyers’ true motivations, emotions, needs, and wants. Without this foundation, developing a strong Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or establishing a compelling thought leadership position becomes extremely challenging.

When you build on a shaky foundation, the cracks might not be visible until it’s too late. In my experience transforming go-to-market strategies, the hidden costs of unclear ICPs are pervasive but can be remedied by creating well-defined ICPs across your business:

1. Waste: This issue manifests across all business areas but is most evident in your marketing budget. Without focused targeting, the return on investment in your marketing efforts diminishes, often leading to the costly mistake of throwing more money at the problem. Further downstream, unclear qualification criteria in Sales make closing deals difficult, often resulting in problematic clients who are challenging to implement and support.

2. Customer Satisfaction: Poor-fit customers lead to a cascade of issues—difficulties in attracting, closing, implementing, and supporting these clients ultimately result in declining satisfaction and spend. As a result, customers start looking at competitors who better meet their needs.

3. Roadmap Development: Product development relies heavily on customer feedback, but if you’re not targeting the right customers, that feedback can lead to costly adjustments without a corresponding increase in customers or revenue.

4. Retention: When your outreach for brand advocates is met with silence, upselling and cross-selling become nearly impossible. As new customer acquisition declines, you’re forced to rely on existing customers to bridge the revenue gap, perpetuating a vicious cycle.

   
   

But all is not lost. I recall a pivotal conversation in 2017 during a customer segmentation project. I asked cross-functional stakeholders about the impact of:

• Sales being 100% confident in identifying ideal customers and qualifying out poor-fit ones.

• Pre-Sales having a clear, succinct, and straightforward qualification process.

• Delivery fostering easy, transparent, partnership-like relationships with customers.

• Support finding it easier to upsell to trusted and satisfied customers who advocate for the brand.

  
  

Their responses, though skeptical, were overwhelmingly positive. This feedback formed the basis for a targeted ICP strategy that enabled us to pivot the business and reverse declining growth rates.

If you’re experiencing any of these red flags, it’s time to act. With the power of generative AI, you can now craft fast, accurate ICPs that help develop strong positioning and align your teams with your buyers. Don’t let unclear ICPs sabotage your strategy—take the first step towards turning it all around.

Ready to explore the potential of an AI-driven G2M strategy? AI JourneyFlow is here to help you.  Whether you or your teams would benefit from Generative AI education, facilitating team workshops to identify gaps and opportunities in your G2M approach or helping you unpack a solution, AI JourneyFlow can support you.