Why Defining Your ICP and Sales Targets Matters for Small Business Growth (Part 1)
Many small businesses think sales is about chasing anyone who might buy. On the surface, that makes sense — the more prospects you go after, the better your odds, right? In reality, the opposite often happens. Without clear focus, sales teams spread themselves too thin, waste time chasing bad-fit leads, and struggle to deliver consistent growth.
This is why defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and setting clear sales targets is critical. Here’s what happens when businesses skip these steps — and how a consultant can help bring clarity.
1. What Happens When you don’t have clarity on your ICP
When a business doesn’t know who its best customer is, every lead looks the same. Sales reps chase whoever will take a call — from tiny accounts that aren’t profitable, to prospects who were never a good fit to begin with.
The results:
Wasted time on low-value opportunities
Inconsistent close rates
Frustration for reps (and owners)
Customers that churn quickly because they were never the right fit
Example: A home remodeling contractor with three sales reps spends just as much time quoting small $3,000 bathroom projects as they do large $75,000 full-house remodels. Without clarity on which customers are most profitable, the team stays busy but struggles to grow revenue in a meaningful way.
How a consultant helps: A sales consultant works with leadership to define the ICP — the type of customer who brings in healthy revenue, stays loyal, and is worth the time to pursue. That clarity alone can double sales productivity because reps stop wasting effort on the wrong people.
2. The Role of Sales Targets
A lot of small businesses don’t set clear revenue or activity targets for sales reps. The expectation is simply, “Go sell something.” Without specific goals, reps can’t measure success and leaders can’t hold them accountable.
The results:
Sales effort feels scattered and unmeasured
Hard to forecast revenue or plan growth
Reps get demotivated because they don’t know if they’re winning or losing
Example: The same remodeling contractor expects each of their three reps to “bring in business,” but has never defined how much. One rep consistently sells $30K a month, another $60K, and another swings wildly from $15K to $80K. Leadership doesn’t know what “good” looks like — and neither do the reps.
How a consultant helps: A consultant helps owners define realistic but challenging targets — monthly, quarterly, and annual. For example, each remodeling rep might be expected to sell $50K a month in projects, with bonuses for exceeding that number. Now the team has a scoreboard, and leadership has a way to forecast revenue.
Bottom Line (Part 1)
Defining your ICP and setting clear sales targets may sound basic, but they’re often the missing pieces that separate “busy” teams from consistently successful ones. Without them, effort gets scattered. With them, sales becomes measurable, predictable, and scalable.
In Part 2, we’ll look at how structuring territories and verticals and keeping your team focused unlocks even more growth.
Want to get some clarity on these for your business?
Struggling to define who your best customers are or how much your team should really be selling? At RevWorks, we help small and service-based businesses bring structure and clarity to sales — so growth is no longer a guessing game.
