How to Sharpen Your ICP, with Ana Laskey

Episode 167

Have you and your team started putting in the work to go narrow — made the commitment to niche down because that’s where the gold is?

You’ve updated your positioning. Your message is feeling more dialed in than ever. And maybe you’ve even started saying “no” to wrong-fit clients. Awesome!

But — your sales pipeline still feels a little unpredictable. Or, you’re doing all the right things but your content isn’t converting — and your ICP, or Ideal Client Profile, feels just out of reach.

If that hits too close to home — this episode of Sell With Authority is going to be super helpful.

My guest expert is Ana Laskey, data-driven Founder and President of Ground Control Research. Ana’s mission is to help agencies build better, more accurate ICPs by grounding them in real buyer intelligence.

When your ICP is off — even just a little — everything downstream in your biz dev process suffers.

That’s what Ana and I slice apart — her smarts on how to fix your ICP so you can raise the bar of excellence.

Whether you’re just starting to niche down or you’ve been in your lane for years — this episode challenges and inspires you to revisit your ICP — and walk away with fresh ideas for how to make it sharper, more grounded — and sell more of what you.

What you will learn in this episode: 

• Why most agencies’ ICPs are built on hope instead of data
• The “defined and validated” ICP approach
• The real math to prove why niching down is never too narrow
• A simple framework to validate your agency’s ICP through client conversations
• How to use AI tools to analyze client calls, extract real language, and sharpen your targeting
• Why ongoing customer listening can become your most reliable biz dev engine

Resources:

• Website: www.groundcontrolresearch.com
• LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastassialaskey/
• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groundcontrolresearch/
• Ana’s Bio Page: https://ana.bio/