--- title: "ICP and Persona: Who an SDR Should Call | Skipcall" description: "ICP (the ideal company) and persona (the person who picks up): write them on one page, test them on ten accounts, and stop calling everyone." url: https://skipcall.io/en/academy/sdr/icp-and-persona language: en --- [Stage 2 · Build your list](https://skipcall.io/en/academy/sdr) # ICP and persona: who you talk to The best script in the world does not save a list that aims at the wrong people. Before you call, you need to know exactly which company and which person you are looking for. 6 min +50 XP 1/3 [Academy](https://skipcall.io/en/academy/sdr) 0 % Rookie · 0 XP ## ICP and persona are two different things The ICP (ideal customer profile) describes a company: its sector, its size, its country, the signals that show it has the problem you solve, and what rules it out on sight. The persona describes a person inside that company: their role, what hurts them day to day, what they gain if the problem goes away, and what they risk by saying yes to you. You need both. An ICP without a persona gives you a list of companies with no idea who to call inside them. A persona without an ICP has you calling sales directors at ten-thousand-person groups that will never buy from you. An SDR who knows both can spot a good contact in five seconds. ## Writing the ICP: sector, size, signals, exclusions Start from your ten best customers, not the ones you wish you had. What do they share? Sector and size are obvious. Signals take more attention: they were hiring, raising money, opening a country, switching tools. A signal is a dated fact that makes the call legitimate today. Exclusions matter as much as criteria. They spare you the polite calls that lead nowhere: too small to have the budget, too big to buy without a tender, outside the area you can actually serve. A clear exclusion saves hours of list building. - Sector: two or three families at most, named the way your customers name them. - Size: a range of employees, or of reps if that is what matters to you. - Country: where you really sell and deliver, not where you dream of going. - Signals: hiring, funding, expansion, tool change, new leadership. - Exclusions: B2C, public sector, too small, too big, existing customers, competitors. ## Writing the persona: role, pain, gain, risk A persona is not a marketing sheet with a first name and a stock photo. It is the answer to four questions about the person who picks up. What is their role, and therefore what are they asked for every quarter? What costs them time or money today, from their point of view, in their words? What do they gain if that changes? What do they risk by listening to you: one more project, a tool that does not work, a budget to defend? The same ICP can hold two or three personas. The sales director wants more meetings, the operations lead wants fewer tools to maintain, the founder wants both and no risk. The opener changes with the person, and so does the list: a CFO record in a list meant for sales directors is a wasted call. ## Test on ten accounts before building the list An ICP takes an hour to write and half a day to test. Take ten companies that seem to fit, find the persona in each, and call. If you get no conversation on anything that resembles the expected pain, the ICP or the persona is wrong, and it is better to know before you build two thousand rows. The test also sharpens the signals. You will find that “hiring a rep” works better than “just raised a round”, or the reverse. Keep what produces conversations, write it into the ICP, and re-read it every quarter: companies move, and so does your product. ## Key takeaways - The ICP describes the company (sector, size, country, signals, exclusions); the persona describes the person (role, pain, gain, risk). - Exclusions save as much time as criteria. - A signal is a dated fact that makes the call legitimate today. - The persona’s pain is written in their words, never with your product name. - Test the ICP on ten accounts before building the list, and re-read it every quarter. ## Check what you remember Question 1 of 4 One correct answer per question. The explanation appears after your choice. What is the difference between an ICP and a persona? ## Go further - [Lead qualification guide The criteria that say whether an account is worth a sales cycle.](https://skipcall.io/en/blog/lead-qualification-guide) - [How to qualify leads on the phone The questions to ask in five minutes to confirm the ICP.](https://skipcall.io/en/blog/how-to-qualify-leads-on-the-phone) - [Cold calling compliance checker Before you call: who may be cold called, when, and with what consent.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/cold-calling-compliance-checker) A term you are not sure about? [The cold calling glossary](https://skipcall.io/en/academy/cold-calling-glossary)