Marketing With Fearby Andrew Fear
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The HarnessThe AuditFractionalAboutBook a call with Andrew

The harness · 03 / 09

ICP & personas

Know exactly who buys, why now, and who says no.

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The problem it fixes

Sound familiar?

  1. 01

    Marketing says leads are up. Sales says they're junk. Both are partly right.

  2. 02

    Your ICP is a list of industries and company sizes, not a reason to buy.

  3. 03

    Campaigns target a segment instead of the moment a buyer starts looking.

What I draw on

The playbooks behind it.

Your CRM

Closed-won analysis

Find the segments with better win rates, shorter cycles, higher ACV and stronger retention than average.

Bob Moesta and Clayton Christensen

Jobs to Be Done switch interviews

Rebuild each customer's path to purchase: the push, the pull, the anxiety, the habit, and the moment that made it urgent.

B2B sales practice

Buying committee mapping

What the economic buyer, champion, user and blocker each need to believe.

Frameworks are public. The harness applies them to your business using your data, your customers' words and judgment from three exits, then checks every output against the same standard.

What the harness does

What actually happens.

  • Analyzes 18–24 months of closed-won and closed-lost deals
  • Runs switch interviews with best-fit customers and lost deals
  • Maps the buying committee and the proof each role needs
  • Builds a voice-of-customer bank from calls, reviews and interviews
  • Agrees a lead and account scoring rubric with sales
Checked before it ships
  • The ICP is backed by data, not opinion
  • Disqualifiers are written down
  • Sales leadership agrees to the scoring

Related reading

Go deeper.

Exit readinessWhat acquirers look at in your marketing before an exitSeven things a buyer's diligence team will test in your marketing, and what to have ready 12 months before a B2B SaaS exit.Pipeline diagnosticsMarketing spend is up. Pipeline isn't. Here's where to look.A diagnostic for B2B SaaS CEOs and CROs. Seven places pipeline leaks when spend rises, how to check each in an afternoon, and what fixing it looks like.Pipeline diagnosticsHow to define qualified pipeline (with a template sales will sign)A one-page qualified pipeline definition for B2B SaaS, with stage entry criteria, sourced vs. influenced rules and a marketing-sales SLA. No form, no download.

What you keep

Yours, documented.

  • ICP with evidence and trigger events
  • Buying committee personas
  • Scoring rubric and disqualifiers
  • Voice-of-customer bank

When it happens

Started in week 1 of the Fear Audit. Finished in days 1–30 of a fractional engagement.

See the Fear Audit

Tell me what you're avoiding.

30 minutes with me, not a sales rep. You'll leave knowing whether your problem is strategy, systems or capacity, even if we never work together.

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