Partner ICP Worksheet

What this page shows you

ICP stands for ideal customer profile. Here it is turned around to describe your ideal partner: the traits that make a partner a strong fit for you. Each candidate partner is scored on four things, known as the four C's:

• Capacity: whether the partner has the people and reach to actually deliver.
• Capability: whether they have the technical skill and know-how to do the work well.
• Commitment: whether their leadership is genuinely behind working with you.
• Customer: whether they sell to the same customers you want to reach.

Customer matters most. A partner can score well everywhere else, but if they do not reach the right customers the partnership will not pay off, so Customer is weighted the heaviest and acts as a gate. Each partner then gets a clear decision: prioritise, watchlist, hold, and so on. That tells you plainly what to do next with each one.

Why it matters

Not every willing partner is a good partner. A shared scoring grid replaces gut feel with a consistent view, so a partner championed by one person is judged on the same basis as everyone else. It also gives you language to say no gracefully to partners who look appealing but do not fit.

How to read it

This is a worksheet, so it is read-only for you. Your consultant builds it with you and you see the finished result. Look down the four C's to understand why some partners rank above others, then read across to each partner's decision to see where to spend your first conversations. If a partner you rate highly ends up with a cautious decision, that is a useful discussion to have with your consultant rather than a reason to ignore the profile.