Contact first
There is supported company fit and a specific reason for a conversation. State what you want to confirm, such as a requested pilot or a current workflow problem.
Lead scoring
ICP lead scoring: who should you contact first?
Review the list you already have. Separate company fit from buying intent, record what is known, and give each lead a useful next action.
How to prioritise a prospect list using your ICP
Begin with the companies your product can serve. For each account, check the current problem, the person responsible and any reason to act now. Keep a source and date for each observation.
Use the worksheet to choose the next action. It does not calculate a purchase probability or automatically rank your entire list.
Before prioritising accounts, define the company-fit rules and acceptable evidence. Start with the company ICP worksheet.
A company can fit your ICP while having no current project. Another may describe a problem and ask for a follow-up. Those situations call for different actions, even when the contacts share the same job title.
What an ICP-based score should look at
Use these five questions for manual research. Keep confirmed observations separate from assumptions. The product’s contact match explains semantic fit; it does not verify these buying signals in real time.
- Trigger
- Has something happened recently that makes the problem urgent? A new role, a lost supplier, a compliance deadline, a product launch.
- Urgency
- How much does the pain cost them right now? If nothing changes this month, what breaks?
- Current alternative
- What workaround is used today: spreadsheets, outsourcing or an internal process? Record its cost with a source. A weak alternative is a question to investigate, not proof of intent.
- Decision power
- Who can approve, influence or block the decision? Record the role and supporting evidence; a job title alone does not confirm authority.
- Reachability
- Is there a real, current way in? A working email, a shared contact, a channel they actually read.
Keep the evidence behind your decision visible. Company fit, timing and reachability are different questions.
Give every lead a next action
Review one account at a time, then compare the actions across your list. Missing information calls for research; it is not evidence that a company is a poor fit.
Research first
The company could fit, but its need, role or route of contact is unclear. Choose the missing fact and the source you will check.
Revisit later
There is a documented mismatch or a stated reason to wait. Record the condition or agreed date that would justify another look.
A fillable ICP scoring and prioritisation worksheet
Use one company per worksheet. Fill the five evidence rows, choose a next action and download the record. Repeat for other accounts to compare priorities without inventing numeric weights.
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| Dimension | Observed evidence | Hypothesis or interpretation | Unknowns and next check | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger | ||||
| Urgency | ||||
| Current alternative | ||||
| Decision power | ||||
| Reachability |
Unknown is not zero. Record company fit separately from purchase intent. A job title, company size or email address does not prove intent; choose the next check from dated evidence.
Three fictional leads, with reasons for the order
Illustration only. All companies, events, dates and source notes below are invented.
Draft ICP: a small retailer with two warehouses and recurring manual stock reconciliation. The order below prioritises the next research action, not a predicted purchase probability.
1 · CedarCart: verify a pilot request
Observed in the fictional scenario: Interview note, 12 October: two warehouses and six hours of weekly reconciliation. Email note, 15 October: the operations lead requested a pilot outline.
Interpretation: Company fit is supported in this scenario. A pilot request is an early buying signal, not an approved purchase.
Still unknown: Budget owner, integration effort, security review and whether the request is still active.
Priority and next action: Follow up first to confirm the requested pilot, owner and success criteria. Do not infer a budget from the job title.
2 · HarbourHome: check whether the problem exists
Observed in the fictional scenario: Company-page note, 11 October: two warehouse locations. No interview or recent purchase-related behavior is recorded.
Interpretation: There is partial company fit. Manual reconciliation and buying intent remain hypotheses.
Still unknown: Current workflow, reconciliation cost, trigger event and decision process.
Priority and next action: Invite a discovery conversation before proposing a pilot. Missing intent evidence is unknown, not a zero score.
3 · PineDesk: revisit after the constraint changes
Observed in the fictional scenario: Interview note, 14 October: one warehouse; an ERP contract has 18 months remaining. The contact said there is no replacement project this quarter.
Interpretation: Current fit is weaker than the draft two-warehouse ICP. The stated lack of a project concerns this quarter, not every future purchase.
Still unknown: Future expansion, renewal plans and whether a separate reconciliation need could emerge.
Priority and next action: Defer sales follow-up for now. Revisit only with a relevant new trigger or an agreed follow-up date.
This ordering illustrates a review method. It is not customer data, a trained scoring model, a product-generated ranking, or a live intent feed.
How askuser.ai scores a contact against an ICP
The product’s contact matching helps you review fit. The worksheet above records your own research and next-action decisions.
Turn one product sentence into an ICP profile
You describe your product in a sentence. We generate an ICP profile of 18 sections, 13 profile breakdowns plus 5 market materials, which is the yardstick every contact is scored against.
Match the profile against real buyers
Semantic search compares the profile with accessible contact records. The returned explanation describes fit, not verified current need or purchase intent.
Each match comes with its reason
Every contact is returned with one line explaining why it matched. That line is the score's basis: you can read it, check it against the contact, and throw out a match you disagree with.
Free accounts can run one match a day with three contacts per match. Check pricing for current plan limits. View current plans
Replies are the real score
A score is a guess until someone answers. After matching, you draft a mail per contact and send it from your own mailbox. Links are tracked, and replies are read back from your inbox by IMAP.
Each reply is classified, interested, not interested, out of office, unsubscribe. That outcome is attached to the contact and to the profile it came from.
Use replies as evidence when reviewing the profile. Silence alone does not prove lack of need, and a fit explanation does not become a verified buying signal.
Score your list against an ICP you can check
Define the company-fit criteria, then use the evidence worksheet to review your existing prospects. Signed-in matching is available as a separate step.
Free tier: one match a day (three contacts), three profiles a day. No credit card.