Ideal customer profiles (ICPs) drive aligned, revenue-resilient go-to-market strategies. We have established that previously in this series. But once an ICP is defined and linked to strategic growth goals, the next challenge is often overlooked: How do we actually equip sales to use it?
That is where revenue enablement becomes the bridge between insight and impact.
Yet in many organizations, the ICP sits on a slide somewhere, static, theoretical and disconnected from the tools, content and behaviors of the revenue team. Keep reading to learn how to free this tool from concept and put it into action with your go-to-market team.
THE REVENUE ENABLEMENT GAP
Too often, sales teams are told: “We are going after mid-sized firms in X industry,” or “Our ICP is high-growth tech companies.” That may be directionally helpful, but it is not actionable.
Without clearly defined buyer signals, persona-level pains and real-world examples, salespeople are left guessing. Marketing continues to generate content that does not reflect actual buying conversations. Sales development representatives send cold emails that fall flat. Enablement produces training that feels generic and quickly forgotten.
To put it simply: The ICP work stops short of the finish line.
THE GONG-BACKED ICP
We recently partnered with a growing healthcare technology company to redefine their ICP. As part of researching and analyzing data for their ICP, we used Gong call transcripts, hundreds of them to hear what their buyers were saying firsthand.
This surfaced great insights to use in the ICP work and gave revenue enablement a jumping-off point to connect the ICP to sales training.
- Buyer Signals: Like “We are switching billing platforms,” “We just lost our office manager” or “We are adding urgent care services.”
- Compelling Events: Such as launching a new specialty, adopting telemedicine or pursuing HIPAA certification.
- Persona-Level Pain: From overwhelmed billing managers to growth-focused practice owners navigating vendor fatigue.
We then translated these insights into usable, day-to-day tools for the sales team:
- Outreach scripts mapped to signal-based triggers
- Call plans tailored by role and practice type
- A shared language across marketing, sales and enablement that reinforced the ICP daily, not just at kickoff
Enablement was not just a training function anymore. It became a strategic multiplier of the ICP work.
WHAT REVENUE ENABLEMENT LOOKS LIKE WHEN LEVERAGING LIVE SALES CALLS AND THE ICP
When the ICP is rich with buyer behavior, enablement can finally deliver precision. Here is what that looks like:
| Without Live Sales Calls | With Live Sales Calls |
| Generic personas based on job title | Real buyer challenges surfaced from calls |
| Cold outreach tied to industry guesswork | Signal-based sequences tied to actual trigger events |
| Training focused on features | Coaching that reflects real objections and success stories |
| Ramp timelines that vary widely | Faster onboarding using real-life sales scenarios |
Sales teams start qualifying better, ramping faster and engaging smarter. Not by adding more tools but by aligning better to real buyer journeys.
TAKEAWAY: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ICP IN A SLIDE
If your ICP still lives in a presentation deck, your revenue engine is only halfway built.
Enablement is where ICPs come alive. This is how go-to-market teams turn strategy into results. But to do that, the ICP must evolve from an idea into an engine, fueling messaging, outreach, prioritization and planning.
Ready to build an ICP that takes your team from insight to impact? Schedule 30 minutes with one of our revenue experts and let’s talk.