We live in a world where everything is available on demand. Use Intent Data to keep up with your clients’ changing expectations and interact with them more effectively as a seller. Accounts are now – or should be – at the heart of everything we do in the revenue-generating function. As a result, to provide our prospects with a customer-centric experience, the tools and technology we employ must educate and support all areas of the sales process.
Modern clients have access to more information than ever before. As a result, they’re performing more research behind the scenes, with more than 70% of purchasers specifying their own requirements before speaking with a salesperson.
In sales, our ability to inspire and engage prospects throughout their journey is critical to closing the transaction. However, with marketing qualified leads (MQLs), you can only deliver value to your clients once they’ve established contact with you.
On the other hand, modern sellers may leverage intent data to engage relevant leads at the right time and deliver value in whichever phase they are in their buying journey.
Taking advantage of intent data
One of the most challenging tasks for sellers in the past has been determining exactly what our prospects desire. Before entering into a meeting, we typically depend on MQLs to give us a broad notion of who the lead is and what their desires are.
However, those MQLs frequently leave us with general information that maps back to our ideal customer profile rather than the detailed insights into each prospect that we want to build a tailored experience.
According to a survey, despite the fact that over half of account-driven firms focus their strategy on indicators like MQLs, 80% of companies failed to meet revenue targets in 2019.
MQLs are more convenient than accurate: they collect data through obsolete strategies like form fills and cold outreach, enabling business development representatives to make decisions based on restricted, static data. MQLs aren’t enough in the Age of the Customer, when prospects want customized and precise interaction from a sales team.
For far too long, sales teams have regarded MQLs as a guiding light for buyer engagement. They don’t provide us with the real-time data we require to add value to our prospects’ journeys. This is where intent data comes in handy.
When to use intent data
In contrast to MQLs, intent data allows you to see the buyer’s activities before meeting with a seller. It’s a combination of all the anonymous research and training throughout the internet, showing behavior and buying signals you wouldn’t have known about until a buyer made themselves known. It’s hard to determine what your prospects are looking for in a solution without intent data.
Intent data helps you better understand what matters to your prospects as they progress through the phases of the purchase process.
This information is crucial for sellers. As I previously stated, contemporary sellers must deliver value to their prospects, or they may flee to your competition because time is critical to sales.
Profit quickly
The ultimate purpose of go-to-market teams is to increase revenue. In the Age of the Customer, the best approach to getting the desired outcomes is to give your customers a tailored experience. You’ll need real-time information on who they are, what they value, and where they are in the purchasing process.
You can prioritize your leads wherever they are in their buying journey and provide value using intent data rather than MQLs.
Takeaway
There are no shortcuts to success available. You can either buy opt-ins and spend money marketing them to turn them into leads or undertake the complex, continuing job of outbound sales and digital marketing to generate them yourself.
Intent data can be pretty beneficial. Sales intelligence, particularly in complicated purchasing teams, can help reduce sales cycles and increase closing rates.
Just be mindful that at the junction of MQLs and intent data, there’s a lot of snake oil being offered. Make sure you do your homework. You should be aware of what you’re purchasing. Also, be honest with yourself about how it will help you achieve your personal, career, departmental, and business objectives.