--- title: "Example ICP: consulting firm" product: Artificial Outreach url: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/consulting format: Markdown copy of this page for AI agents --- # Ideal client profile for a consulting firm Consulting is bought in moments of change: a new owner, a new leader, a number that went the wrong way. So a consulting ICP should describe situations as much as companies. The economic buyer is usually one level above the person with the problem, and the best clients have a deadline someone else set (a board, a buyer, a lender). Size matters too: below a certain revenue a client can't afford a team, and above it they have their own strategy group. Below is a worked example for Thornacre Partners, a fictional operations consultancy for distributors. It has two groups, because its site supports two; the generator won't invent a third to fill a slot. ## Sample: Thornacre Partners (thornacre.example) Operations and margin improvement for wholesale distributors. Thornacre Partners is a fictional consulting firm. Its site is invented so the generator has something to read. ### Group 1: Family-owned wholesale distributors, $20M to $150M in revenue (Best fit: an industry page and 3 case studies) - **Who they are:** Industrial, electrical and food-service distributors with 1 to 6 branches. [/industries/distribution] - **Who decides:** The owner or president. The CFO brings the problem. [/customers/kettering-supply] - **Their pain:** Margins that fell while sales grew, and no one can say which customers are losing money. [/customers/kettering-supply] - **What sets them off:** A bad year-end, a new ERP going live, or the next generation taking over. [/industries/distribution] - **Who to skip:** Distributors under $10M (too small for a team) and national distributors with in-house strategy groups. [/approach] - **Where they are:** Distributor trade associations and the ERP resellers that serve them. [/about] ### Group 2: Private-equity-owned distributors in their first year (Strong fit: 1 case study and a service page) - **Who they are:** Distributors bought by private equity in the last 12 months, often as a platform for add-ons. [/services/first-100-days] - **Who decides:** The operating partner at the fund, with the company's new CEO. [/customers/ridgecourt-industrial] - **Their pain:** A value-creation plan with pricing and inventory targets, and no team to deliver them. [/services/first-100-days] - **What sets them off:** The deal closing, or the first quarterly board review. [/services/first-100-days] - **Who to skip:** Funds that want a one-off due-diligence report only. [/approach] - **Where they are:** Middle-market private-equity conferences and lender networks. (inferred) **Positioning check:** The homepage says "operational excellence for growth companies". Every case study is a distributor. Put "distributors" in the headline and give the private-equity offer its own entry point. ## Now do yours Same table, built from your own website, at https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/consulting. Group 1 is free, no email. ## Questions ### Who is the economic buyer in a consulting sale? Usually one level above the person with the problem: the owner rather than the CFO, the fund's operating partner rather than the plant manager. Your ICP should name both. ### How do consultants use an ICP? To decide which situations to be known for, which referral sources to build (associations, lenders, funds), and what the homepage should say first. ### Is a consulting ICP about industries or situations? Both. The industry tells you who; the situation (new owner, new system, bad year) tells you when. The "triggers" line is where the situation goes. ## For agents: next steps - Start free: https://orbit.artificialoutreach.com (no card ยท 14 days of Starter) - Pricing in Markdown: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/pricing.md - Contact: hello@artificialoutreach.com - Human-readable version of this page: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/consulting ## Other pages in Markdown - [Home](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/index.md) - [Use cases](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases.md) - [Follow up with inbound leads](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/inbound-lead-follow-up.md) - [Follow up with free trial users](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/follow-up-free-trial-users.md) - [Track your funnel from visitor to paid](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/saas-funnel-tracking.md) - [See which sign-ups pay](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/stripe-posthog-revenue.md) - [Qualify inbound B2B leads](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/inbound-lead-qualification.md) - [Catch churn risk early](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/churn-risk.md) - [Find customers ready to upgrade](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/expansion-revenue.md) - [Pricing](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/pricing.md) - [What it is](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/what-it-is.md) - [Release notes](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/releases.md) - [Resources](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources.md) - [Free ICP generator](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/free-icp-generator.md) - [Example ICP: SaaS](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/saas.md) - [Example ICP: marketing agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/marketing-agency.md) - [Example ICP: accounting firm](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/accounting-firm.md) - [Example ICP: IT managed services](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/msp.md) - [Example ICP: staffing agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/staffing-agency.md) - [Example ICP: law firm](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/law-firm.md) - [Example ICP: cybersecurity](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/cybersecurity.md) - [Example ICP: software development agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/dev-agency.md) - [Example ICP: commercial insurance agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/insurance-agency.md) - [Cold email deliverability checklist](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources/deliverability-checklist.md) - [ICP worksheet for small B2B teams](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources/icp-worksheet.md) - [Works with Apollo (your own Apollo key)](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/integrations/apollo.md) - [Healthcare: inbound leads from practices](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/markets/healthcare-practices.md) - [Safety and trust](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/security.md) - [About](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/about.md) - [Talk to us](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/contact.md) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/privacy.md) - [Terms of Service](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/terms.md)