It is fashionable these days to predict the “end of sales prospecting”, or a “revolution in the hunter’s trade”, as if social media and other new methods supposedly did all the work! But until proven otherwise, every kind of business relationship is built on people, on exchange and dialogue, and underpinned by a solid company database.
There is no question of setting aside the tools that make life easier for sales teams, quite the opposite, but let’s not muddle things. Automating tasks and email outreach cannot replace everything. Tools save time and therefore boost efficiency, but they cannot stand in for the work of a good sales rep, the one who picks up the phone and knows exactly why !
What is more effective than a phone call to the right contact at a company you are prospecting? You are prospecting that company because you have specific reasons to. The service you offer matches this prospect’s reality, and every clue gathered online suggests they need it. You know all this because you first did a proper piece of research, and you are absolutely right to!
To help you gather all the relevant information to prepare your call, Mixdata brings together numerous datasets on companies and the people who work in them. Mixdata selects the data that matters to a “hunter” sales rep, structures it, aggregates it and makes it available through its SaaS sales intelligence tool.
What is prospect knowledge, Mixdata-style?
On a single prospect record, users can see:
- the company’s profile, its financial data and ownership markers, fundraising rounds and international activity
- the trademarks and patents filed (see the article Identify companies that file patents https://blog.mixdata.com/nouveau-identifiez-entreprises-deposent-brevets/ )
- the websites the company runs, each with a rundown of the technologies used and its traffic
- the company’s presence on social media
- the contacts within the company, with their precise roles, location, professional social profile and email contact
- the company officers
- changes of address, directors or share capital, disposals, sales and so on
- current recruitment
And if all that were not enough, Mixdata also offers a new-appointment alert, which saves a great deal of time and tells sales reps about the new decision-makers joining the companies they are interested in.
The rep making the call enjoys augmented prospect knowledge and all the contact points they need, and can seize on a timely piece of news! That gives them a genuine reason to call.
In short,
A prospecting call is only effective if it is motivated and justified. The reason stems from targeting in general, but also from knowing the company and spotting weak or strong signals (see the article How and why to monitor weak signals https://blog.mixdata.com/signaux-faibles-prospection-btb/)
“I am getting in touch because I am familiar with your B2B business. I also noticed that you already have a team of 5 sales reps using Salesforce and that you have just raised funds, so I imagine your team is about to grow… I think Mixdata could be of interest and help you scale quickly…“
Financial and legal data, analysis of websites and social networks, recruitment news, fundraising, press articles, org charts with multichannel contact points… all kept permanently up to date and sensibly pre-filtered, that is what Mixdata offers its users: selective, relevant prospect knowledge.
If that is the end of the sales rep, then we are all a bit lost 😉
Curious and want to know more? Call us on 01 41 10 58 45 or request more information
