Once you’ve defined your Ideal Customer Profile, the next step is to translate that clarity into action: a focused list of accounts that you’ll target for outreach, validation, and early sales. This is where strategy meets execution.

But first, a warning: resist the temptation to buy lists from shady vendors or scrape questionable directories. While reputable legal market datasets do exist, your goal isn’t just volume, it’s focus. A good target list helps you spend time on the right firms, not just any firm.

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Targeting Is a Strategic Choice

 

Building a target account list isn’t a mechanical exercise. It’s a strategic layer that aligns your resources with the segments most likely to convert and succeed. Different GTM strategies will demand different list-building approaches.

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Common Account Targeting Approaches:

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1. Named Account Lists (Manual Selection):
    

   • Best for enterprise legaltech tools, founder-led sales, or products requiring relationship-based selling.

   • Choose firms one by one based on deep fit with your ICP, recent trigger events, or strategic importance.

   • Example: 50 Am Law firms with innovation teams and deal-heavy corporate practices.
      

2. Segment-Based Targeting:
    

   • Ideal for scalable outreach.

   • Define a segment (e.g., "UK-based real estate boutiques with 50–200 lawyers") and source a larger list within that category.

   • Good fit for business-of-law tools where pain is operational and repeatable.
      

3. Tiered Targeting Framework:
    

   • Tier 1: High-fit, high-relevance, likely high effort but high payoff.

   • Tier 2: Good-fit firms that you want to warm up via content or events.

   • Tier 3: Longer-term or indirect targets, used to build awareness.
      

4. Inbound-Informed Targeting:
    

   • Use website traffic, demo requests, or content engagement to shape your outbound list.

   • Particularly useful once you have a bit of traction and want to accelerate conversion.
      

Process Over Perfection

 

Your goal is not to build a perfect list, it’s to build a useful one that enables test-and-learn cycles. You’ll learn a lot about real buyer behavior by running small outbound experiments against your target list.

Keep a lightweight CRM or tracking system that tags each firm by:

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• ICP fit (e.g., firm size, practice area, tech maturity)

• Engagement stage (cold, warm, active convo, closed-won/lost)

• Discovery notes (pains, objections, champions)
   

Over time, you’ll refine your list, graduate accounts into higher tiers, and build momentum with less effort.