The “When” of Decision-Making

B2B companies need lead data, but it’s only valuable if it’s accurate. Since three to five percent of leads in any database change jobs every month, data degrades quickly.

It’s important to keep your CRM clean and get the latest information into it, but instead of trying to process the tens of thousands of contacts in your CRM, what would happen if you dedicated more time and attention to that three to five percent of people that just got a new job? That’s what Bryan Colligan of Rocket Signals is doing, and the results have been impressive.

TURNING DATA DECAY ON ITS HEAD

A Dun and Bradstreet study found that 89 percent of B2B marketers agree that data quality is increasingly important to sales and marketing. Fifty percent of B2B businesses, however, are not confident in the quality of their data. The Harvard Business Review reports that bad data could be costing U.S. businesses $3 trillion a year.

So most of us agree that data quality is critical, but data in and of itself has no value. You have to be able to process it in order for it to be valuable. “If I take a big chunk of data,” says Bryan, “it could be 50 to 100 thousand people, I deliver it, and you’re not going to be able to do anything because it’s too many people. A sales person doesn’t need 1,000 of anything because they can’t process it.”

Bryan explains this conundrum as a quality inversion—the more data you maintain, the lower the quality because the harder it is to process. The trick is to provide a smaller amount of the right data, and it turns out that the right data lies in that three to five percent of people messing up your CRM because they changed jobs.

“What people really need,” says Bryan, “is a reason to reach out—a signal.”

WHO, HOW, AND WHEN?

Maestro’s DRIVE information-gathering framework starts with “D” for “decision” not just because it makes for a good acronym. A sale doesn’t exist without the decision to purchase something. It is critical to know who is involved in making that decision, whether it’s one individual or an entire team of people.

Next you need to figure out how that decision is being made. What are the factors that are being considered? What is most important to your prospect? Are they comparing you to other companies that provide something similar?

But have you thought about when they decide? If you work in government, decisions get made and get made quickly at the end of the fiscal year. The use-it-or-lose-it budget rules have made it so that the federal government often spends in the last week of the fiscal year more than they spent the entire previous month.

If you have a flexible spending account (FSA) you have perhaps decided to finally schedule a slew of doctor’s appointments at the end of the year. You may as well get a pair of new glasses rather than lose the money.

Do you know another time a lot of decisions on purchases get made? When someone starts in a new job. One in five employees won’t make it past the 90-day mark. The first three months of a new job is your chance to make an impression and prove yourself worthy. And that means you’ll be more receptive to any tools, products, or services that will help you improve performance.

“The new-hire signal…is super important to sales people because within the first 90 days you have to make an impact at an organization,” says Bryan. “Everybody is in this trial period to figure out who they are, what their platform is, what missions they’re going to be on, what projects they’re going to be on, what are their goals, key metrics, OKRs—everything that they’re going to do in the first 90 days.” It’s perfect timing for a sales professional to reach out while a new hire is in this discovery mode.

WHY NEW-HIRE SIGNALS ARE SO VALUABLE

There’s another reason that new-hire signal works so well. “Because people don’t know the construct of the organization and who’s who,” says Bryan, “they are like a blank map. You can insert yourself into that equation.” In other words, it doesn’t matter if you’re a previous vendor for the company or not. You get to start fresh: the first 90 days is the perfect time before prospects give in to the status quo of an organization.

“It’s a quick and easy way to start a conversation,” say Bryan. And it’s extremely effective. There is a nearly 90 percent open rate on the “congrats on the new role” messages Bryan’s clients send out. This is compared to the five to ten percent open rate of most cold emails.

A tool that has proved valuable for Bryan’s clients is LinkedIn. “Putting something in a LinkedIn message forces you to get colloquial and friendly…because of the channel it is,” says Bryan. It’s a different way of communicating that requires more thought and personalization, but the return makes it well worth it.

It also helps that purchasing trends have changed. Bryan explains that it used to be only the VP actually purchasing software, but now it’s common for low- and mid-level employees to make this kind of purchase. Bryan keeps his price point low so that individuals in B2B sales can use Rocket Signals to give themselves an edge.

It’s important to keep your CRM clean and accurate. Instead of seeing the five percent of people changing jobs every month as a problem, though, see the job change as a signal. It’s their opportunity to stand out and make a difference. Identifying the “when” of decision-making allows you to focus your efforts and do a little standing out of your own.

Ready to send a flare up? Reach out to mastery@maestrogroup.co to learn more about our advisory and strategy services.