The modern sales world looks very different that it did before we had email automation and sales engagement platforms. In this new era of hyper-volume, hyper-speed, hyper-personalized communication, lead lists have emerged as a solution to the problem of limited data availability in the SMB market.
But now that data availability is a decreasing problem, we, the modern sellers, have to adjust our sales strategies. Old school outreach tricks simply won’t work in this new school sales engagement arena.
For too long, sellers have struggled to plan their sales engagement process in a way that’s simple to follow. The issue here is that organizations (and their customers) are tired of impersonal, spammy marketing email blasts. And even more exhausted are their efforts in trying to track accountability tasks in CRM.
Thankfully, most modern sales reps today at least have their cadences built out, and sales engagement platform in place to execute on those cadences. What comes next is determining a way to fill your funnel in a sincere and intentional manner. And since data is becoming more and more of a commodity, here are the 4 rules to good data that all sincere sellers need to look out for:
1. Always Start With Company Data
The best teams start by aiming at targeted companies, rather than just buyer personas. By honing in on specific accounts, you find more qualified leads.
When you’re focused on targeted selling, it’s your messaging that converts. Personalized and intentional messaging is the key to success when it comes to connecting and converting these well-defined companies in your ICP.
2. Look For Highly Maintained Data Lists
To get the most-up-to-date data lists, you need vendors who are highly invested in maintaining their lists. Businesses like DiscoverOrg, Ringlead, Datanyze, and Proleads are good options for this data.
Executive Director of Revenue Optimization at MECLABs and B2B Lead Roundtable blogger Brian Carroll admitted he learned (the hard way) that a bad lead list can actually cost 60% more than a good lead list.
The difference between the best- and worst-performing lists is almost $600 per lead.” – Brian Carroll
3. Remember: Social Data Beats Legacy Data
Services propped up by social data typically have the most accurate information. Legacy “crowd-sourced” data becomes stale quickly, not to mention, they put your CRM at risk of being flooded with duplicate data.
De-duplicating and scrubbing data lists is never easy, and in addition to being a sales ops manager’s nightmare; duplicate data can impact conversion rates, sales forecasting, and revenue projection. Eventually, this inaccurate reporting can be the kiss of death to your sales organization’s overall health.
4. Make Sure Information Is Up-To-Date
In order for data to be good, you need information that isn’t outdated and stale. Make sure you gather the best data from sources like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Crunchbase, rather than third-party, legacy data providers.
40% of legacy data is out-of-date after three months.
We know that making the first outbound call is the hardest; but, once you get going, it can be both productive and rewarding. As sincere sellers, we know that data is the most overlooked element of the sales process, but if we instead leverage insights and analytics, we can build a better sales machine.
Back when we sold the OG Salesloft product, Prospector, we thought it was what the industry really needed. But the data-sales game wasn’t our end game — just simply a means to reach the ultimate goal for top of the funnel sellers. That goal is the conversion of data into qualified opportunities and a healthy contribution to sales pipelines.
“The concept of getting a good prospect list and pounding it to death is old, trite and has become a terrible strategy and drag on our customer’s brands,” admits Salesloft CEO Kyle Porter. “We have never intended to participate in that process. Salesloft is a different process, which creates a different relationship, much different results, and is executed by professionals with professional solutions.”
Keep an eye out for these sneaky data sleepers, and remember the four rules of thumb for getting good data that will ultimately lead to successfully driven revenue and healthy organizational growth.
Learn how to manage your sales engagement data and more in the first section of our Sales Development Playbook: Planning. Download your free copy today!
