The ideal customer profile strategy that replaced cold calling, with Simone Barker

Key takeaways

• The ICP is firmographic and psychographic. Eligibility criteria found the companies. “Light on, wants an adviser, not cutting corners” found the clients.

• Timing was the insight. By the time a grant opens, it’s too late to find the needle. Intercept companies early and match your holding tank to programs the day they launch.

• Consistent touchpoints did the selling. LinkedIn posts on grant pitfalls and “saw this and thought of you” policy emails showed what working with her would feel like before any engagement began.

• Conversion happened almost organically, without the hot seat. That’s the reward for playing long.

• Being everything to everyone is impossible to sustain. A junior Simone watched partners bluff expertise in meetings, and everyone at the table could feel it.

• Changing firms? Study the new firm’s existing clients first, then map your product suite to them.

It will make your life easier if you have an ICP. It is so hard being everything to everyone, because it means you’ve got to present as being an expert on everything.

Simone Barker, Vice President, Crestview Strategy

You can have as many BD calls per week as you like. If you’re not talking to the right people, you can have 20 and come out with nothing.

Simone Barker, Vice President, Crestview Strategy

What did Simone Barker change about how she sold?

The order of operations. When she took over the grants practice at her previous firm, the obvious move was to react to each program as it opened. She saw the flaw immediately. Programs are specific, one month out is not enough time to find an eligible company with the right project, and the person you find has usually had three other advisers pitch them. So she inverted it. Build the warm pipeline first, in the sectors government funds, then match people to programs as they arrive.

Luigi Prestinenzi, who coached her through the shift, pushes on the psychographic layer. Simone wasn’t just looking for eligible companies. She was looking for a founder with the light on: someone who wants a grant, doesn’t want to write it themselves, and isn’t looking for a shortcut. That person wants an adviser. Everyone else is a conversation that goes nowhere.

How did the pipeline actually convert?

Slowly, then all at once. Every conversation ended with a LinkedIn connection. Her content covered grant programs and the traps in applying for them. Between programs she sent short, personal policy updates. By the time a program opened and she called, the prospect knew how she operated and what working with her would feel like. The call was an alignment check, not a pitch. Regan Barker calls this guiding the buyer, and it’s the reason Simone never felt she was proving herself on a business development call.

The lag was real. Small wins came early. The unexplained inbound leads, people arriving on the website asking for her by name, took 18 months to two years.

Why does this matter for anyone in professional services?

Because the alternative doesn’t survive contact with a sophisticated buyer. Simone describes sitting in meetings as a junior while partners presented depth they didn’t have. The client could feel it. The questions about prior work went unanswered. Depth solves that, and it solves the content problem too, because when you live one domain you see something useful for a client every day. Her next challenge is a new firm with a different client base. Her plan is to learn their profile before she sells anything, which is the whole method in one move.

Questions this episode answers

Why should a professional services firm narrow its ideal customer profile?

Because depth compounds. Content, referrals, and credibility all get easier when you live one domain, and buyers can feel the difference in the first meeting.

How long does a niche ICP strategy take to pay off?

Small wins come early. Simone Barker’s inbound flywheel, where prospects arrive already knowing her, took roughly 18 to 24 months of consistent visibility.

What’s the difference between a firmographic and a psychographic ICP?

Firmographics are the observable facts: sector, size, revenue, location. Psychographics are mindset: whether the buyer wants an adviser, respects the process, and is ready to act. Both matter.