B2B contact data plays an important role in sales and marketing efforts for businesses irrespective of their size or industry. It gives teams an idea about their target audience so they can create dedicated marketing campaigns and implement personalized sales strategies to improve their lead conversion rates.
But as B2B contact data usage becomes more and more common and sales and marketing teams increasingly rely on B2B data to support their growth strategies, it isn’t uncommon for companies to fall prey to the many pitfalls of B2B contact data.
Here are some of the common clichés and misconceptions that reduce the efficiency of B2B contact data.
1. More is Always Better
B2B sales teams often believe that the more data they have, the better. But in reality, too much data can often be detrimental to the effective usage of B2B contact details. If a business contact database hoards every single piece of data, it becomes difficult to keep the information organized. Duplicates creep in, and the accuracy of the data goes down. All this results in inefficient sales efforts and a lack of understanding about the true target demographic of an organization. A study by Gartner in 2017 reported that every year, a typical firm wastes almost $15 million due to the bad data received by sales teams.
SalesIntel helps its clients avoid this problem with the help of our specialized team of human-researchers who reverify everything every 90-days so that there is no data decay. We also provide sales intelligence such as organization charts and search filters so that sales teams can easily sort through firmographics, technographics, company type, and Intent Data.
2. Something is Better than Nothing
The growing importance of a business contact database has led to the growth of this misconception. Firms that struggle to properly maintain B2B contact details feel that even if they are unable to maintain all the necessary data, it is better to retain at least some pieces of data. But this incomplete B2B contact data usually has no utility.
Without the email or the contact number of a potential buyer, you can’t reach them. Even if contact information is available, you still need Intent Data or buying triggers for marketing strategies to be well-targeted and ensure conversion. To successfully utilize buyer data, complete records with all necessary information need to be gathered and maintained.
SalesIntel makes business contact database management easier by solving the problems of partial information. Our human verification teams can scale up an enterprise’s B2B contact data almost 15x times within just a single year. Proper buyer information is not just essential to accelerate sales. It has been found that when a company can produce personalized marketing strategies with its B2B contact data, it creates brand awareness in its respective market and sees a higher ROI on the data investment.
Try our accurate B2B company and contact data to drive more revenue faster.
3. Human Errors isn’t a Concern
For most B2B companies, the sales team tries to quickly build up their company contact database. But this compromises the quality of data that is being entered into the database. Human errors multiply, and most of the time, the data that is left is inaccurate. Contact details are wrong. There are gaps in recording the buying behavior of the customer and other problems. These inaccuracies, when they multiply, can severely hamper the number of lead conversions. The targeted marketing initiatives will also fail to get the expected results.
As disorganized data management continues, the cost to fix it and the revenue lost increase. A Harvard Business Review article revealed that out of 442 business executives from all over the world, nearly 42% claimed to not be confident about the accuracy of their company contact database. The study also showed that the longer inaccurate data is maintained in the database, the more expensive it becomes to clean it up. Generally, it takes just $1 to verify the data when it is entered into the database. It takes $10 to cleanse the data at a later date. But a single piece of inaccurate data can cost an enterprise nearly $100 over time as sales teams will repeatedly waste their time on this bad data.
With SalesIntel, this problem of inaccurate data can be managed easily. We use human data verification, supplemented by a 90-day re-verification of the data so that the highest standards of accuracy can be maintained. Companies that use SalesIntel services have also noted an up to 100% increase in their call-to-connect figures.
4. A Buyer’s Data Needs to be Recorded Only Once
This myth is one of the biggest flaws of the company contact database in most organizations. When the contact data of a potential lead is recorded, most sales teams never go back to update that data again. But in the field of B2B sales, contact data gets out of date fast.
A study by Neil Patel (co-founder of NP Digital) found that 21% of CEOs can change every year, 60% of people change their job titles annually, and many more such changes happen regularly. This means that a company database has to constantly update its existing data to keep it up to date with the present scenario of its prospects.
SalesIntel solves the problem of outdated buyer data with the help of our 90-day re-verification system and research on-demand teams.
SalesIntel promises 95% accuracy with our B2B contact data.
5. There is No Need for the Systematization of Recording Data
Data recording for the company contact database may seem like a simple task. But analysis of the data storage techniques from different firms has shown that there are major inconsistencies in recording data. Contact details are not stored in the same format, the employee details may be stored under different job titles and many more issues pop up.
These inconsistencies make it impossible to use the data effectively. When the sales team or the marketing team needs to filter the data, they are unable to get accurate search results. This means that even when information is available in the database, it is not being accessed. Standardization in data recording is essential for all enterprises. But this may require a lengthy and expensive training process.
Instead, SalesIntel offers an alternative to internal data management. All SalesIntel data is standardized by our internal policies. So, when customers apply the advanced search sales intelligence filters they get the exact leads they are looking for.
We reduce the lead prospecting time of firms by around 80% with the help of our contact data generation and organization services. We also offer CRM integration, so that firms can integrate the B2B contact data with their internal CRM systems and immediately have the data fit all internal naming conventions.
Buyer contact data has many roles to play in successfully executing sales and marketing campaigns. Data quality is essential to getting the best ROI. Inaccurate data can give a wrong picture of the target audience. As a result, the marketing strategies can fall flat, and sales conversions can stagnate or decline.
Summing it up
Various studies on B2B contact data have revealed that B2B data decays at 25-40% every year. This is a significant number, and the impact of such a high rate of data decay can be detrimental to any business – large or small. So instead of trying to take on the task of managing their buyer contact database themselves, businesses rely on specialized B2B data providers like SalesIntel. Our customers have reported significant improvements in their CRM data and sales outreach efforts with the help of SalesIntel and buyer Intent Data to help prioritize sales efforts.
As competition grows, the reliance on B2B data will continue to increase. Better decision-making must be data-driven. But even now, only 13% of the employees at a typical organization always rely on data for their decisions (Harvard Business Review Study 2013).
If you want your team to be the one leading the change, then SalesIntel is the perfect partner to team up with. Data-based decision-making can help a company edge out its competitors by eliminating guesswork in the process of decision-making.
Try SalesIntel’s accurate B2B company and contact data to drive more revenue faster.
