Wisdom in aphorisms
Growing up between Germany and South Africa I absorbed the wisdom of very different cultures. Although I don't often think consciously about the different threads woven through my life, when I smell mutton, hear Miriam Makeba as my music shuffles, or stumble across a forgotten African aphorism, many memories surge back.
I had that experience recently while listening to Business Wars. (Looking for an entertaining business podcast? Check it out.) Describing the growth of South African Breweries, the narration imagined an exec chiding American management to action. "Don't try to fight the crocodile in the water!" he said.
I realized there's wisdom in that for companies using intent data. The question our clients often ask of their data is how to overcome competition, on their terms, to find the prospects whom they can help achieve their goals.
Get out of the water
Many companies are practicing the Predictable Revenue approach to growth. Under pressure from investors to meet aggressive sales goals, they have outbound reps pouring over LinkedIn, emailing at scale and working the phones. And who are they targeting? Prospects that have been identified simply because they meet some set of criteria - firmographic parameters and job position.
Meanwhile their competitors are doing exactly the same thing. Sure the messages are different (maybe a little bit at least) and they call out vast differences in their product features, but they're chasing the same prospects with the same approach.
They're in the water, wrestling with the competitor crocs, on their competitors' terms. It's pretty darn hard to win that way.
Instead they need to crawl up on the land - to put themselves in an environment that allows them to play on their own strengths.
That's what contact level™ 3rd party intent data does.
Focus on "who is"
Outbound prospecting has always focused on "who might." Which companies could be interested if only they knew. What buyers would benefit from learning more.
Now you can actually focus on who is actively engaged in researching products and services like yours.
With granular context (specific problems they're trying to solve, competitors they're interacting with, current stage in buying journey, etc.) and contact details for the actual person who's researching (not simply some best guess appended to anonymous account level activity) it's possible devote marketing and sales resources to people who are open to your help and expertise.
The Key to Intent Data Success
We're building our company around delivering outcomes for customers.
There's lots of purchase intent data and providers in the world. We know that ours is better because of broader reach, actual contact details, better privacy profile and granularity. But we also know that orchestration of efforts across the organization, and activation tactically are critical to achieving outcomes. We love selling subscriptions, and our data can get you out of the water to fight your crocodile competitors on your terms.
But it's still a risky proposition to go nose to nose without knowing how.
If you've tried intent data and been disappointed or frustrated, let's talk. We can coach, advise, and even assist with intent data activation.
