Build an ICP prospect shortlist with filters you can review

An ideal customer profile, or ICP, becomes useful when another researcher can apply it and reach the same decision. Build a small prospect shortlist with explicit account criteria, role criteria, exclusions, and unresolved questions. Keep those decisions beside the returned records.

This worked example uses fictional Aster Works at asterworks.example. It describes Vencavo’s search contract at https://app.vencavo.com. Create an account, verify your email, and select a workspace to apply these steps to your own research. Contract checked November 7, 2026. Use the search reference for current field details.

1. Separate account fit from person fit

Write the research request before opening search. For this exercise, look for people in India whose title contains the literal phrase “sales director”, at companies with 201 to 1,000 employees. Exclude people in Mumbai and the fictional company domain excluded.example.

Record why each criterion matters. Person geography may describe the market your team serves. Company geography answers a different question about the employer. Do not substitute one for the other.

Add desired industry values only after checking the current source vocabulary. Keep buying need, budget, product usage, and decision authority in a separate verification list. A matching role does not establish those facts.

2. Translate the request into actual filters

Use get_search_filters with kind: "person" through MCP to inspect current source values. The workspace uses the same search semantics. This filter fragment represents the exercise; it is not a complete request or execution authorization.

{
  "filters": [
    { "field": "personCountry", "include": ["IN"], "exclude": [] },
    { "field": "personCity", "include": [], "exclude": ["Mumbai"] },
    { "field": "title", "include": ["sales director"], "exclude": [] },
    { "field": "employeeSize", "include": ["201-500", "501-1000"], "exclude": [] },
    { "field": "domain", "include": [], "exclude": ["excluded.example"] }
  ]
}

Included values in one field combine with OR. Different fields combine with AND. Exclusions remove matches. Here, either employee band qualifies, while every other represented criterion must also hold.

Keep each field in one filter. domain matches the exact company domain, without URL or subdomain expansion. companyName uses a company-name substring. Use companyCountry or companyCity when the requirement concerns the employer. Cities use exact values, so inspect spelling before applying an exclusion.

3. Check title meaning before spending

The title filter uses a case-insensitive literal substring. “Sales director” does not find both words in arbitrary order. Including sales and director separately means sales OR director, which admits many unrelated roles.

If the request means any director in the sales department, consider seniority set to director and a function value selected from the current vocabulary. Confirm that interpretation before changing the request. It is a different criterion.

The general query field searches person names, titles, and company names together. It does not parse an ICP paragraph or Boolean expression. Technology, intent, revenue, funding, hiring, and current employment verification are unsupported filters. Obtain approval before dropping such a criterion or reviewing a bounded paid page locally instead.

4. Search a small page and inspect the candidates

Authorize a page budget before searching. Start with ten records and one page. A nonempty page costs one shared workspace credit, even when it returns fewer than ten records. Empty and failed searches cost zero.

Use free person and company profiles to review returned identities and context. Confirm that Aster Works at asterworks.example is the intended employer. Preserve source mode, source release, record ID, supplied title, and employee band. An employee band is a range, not a measured headcount.

Mark each candidate as keep, reject, or needs review. Write a specific reason, such as “matches the represented criteria; current role still needs verification”. The connected release supplies no employment history or reporting edges. Avoid turning a title into a manager relationship or purchasing authority.

5. Save the shortlist before requesting contacts

Save selected source references to a named people list. Keep workspace notes separate from external facts. Saving is free and does not purchase contact values or run the saved search again.

If contact evidence is required, availability filters can narrow candidates. emailAvailable and phoneAvailable accept the strings true or false. They describe eligible historical work-email or direct/mobile evidence. Phone availability excludes company boardlines and does not promise current deliverability.

Review a free availability quote for the selected person. Approve the channel, evidence version, and maximum credit cost before an authorized unlock. New work-email evidence costs one credit; direct/mobile evidence costs five. The same evidence already unlocked by the workspace costs zero. A new evidence version requires a new quote and approval.

6. Keep the next page and the next decision distinct

Continue only within the approved page budget. Reuse the returned cursor with unchanged criteria, order, and limit, plus a new operation key. An uncertain response needs an exact retry with its original key and arguments. Changing criteria starts a new search with an empty cursor.

Download the ICP prospecting worksheet. Its criterion rows capture the translation and its candidate rows show fictional review decisions. Replace the examples with your own permitted observations. Keep protected contact values out of the ledger.

For an AI client operating the same process, use the MCP prospect research guide. To compare tools, carry the same acceptance criteria into the provider evaluation method. A useful shortlist is one another person can review before acting on it.