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Good data is the key ingredient to a successful company in the competitive B2B market. The digital boom, advanced technology, and the ever-growing B2B data sector have accentuated the indispensability of a good quality database. Companies are now obsessed with finding new ways to store, filter, and compile data, as it helps you grow in terms of generating new leads and turning them into prospective customers.
Where is good quality data sourced from? The best contact database for B2B lead generation is usually provided by good database providers. These companies specialize in providing B2B companies which have up-to-date information and a contact list of leads in order to generate more sales and revenue. Good data needs to be evaluated and verified if you want to yield measurable results.
Recent events like the Covid 19 Pandemic have affected global trade and businesses of different industries in various ways, which is why marketers are now looking for new ways to cope and survive, therefore the value of information has decayed. In this situation, it becomes very important to have a good data provider, as it is challenging to find relevant, up-to-date, and trustworthy contact information.
Highly-targeted list of leads who can turn into customers
Reach your sales, revenue, and marketing goals
Incorporate new and upcoming technology
However, many companies continue to stick with the same B2B data providers even when it is no longer providing high-quality data. You should remember that outdated or inaccurate data will lead to customer dissatisfaction, jeopardize your brand name, affect your relationship with the client and even lead to security breaches.
The term data provider covers a vast variety of business services, what we are referring to in this article are the data vendors that focus on providing data for use of consumption by third-party B2B companies. B2B company data is a critical business resource and insightful information that is used to drive sales and marketing efforts.
The database usually contains information such as an address, company details, employee information, designations, the contact information of sales leads and decision-makers. The modern data provider is now offering end-to-end solutions along with tools that will allow your marketing and sales teams to quickly identify, engage with, and sell to qualified buyers.
Data vendors don’t provide databases that are one size fits all as they also offer customization to provide services to many companies and cater to their unique needs. You can also find B2B data providers that focus on a certain industry that provide different features sets at different price points.
If you want an accurate and diverse database you should get to know the sources of the data provided and the methods that are being used to collect that data.
In this article, we have compiled a list of signs that will help you identify the right data provider for your company.
The first criteria or question a B2B company must ask while choosing a good data provider is where the data is sourced from and its trustworthiness. The top B2B Data providers are usually honest about their contact database, what it contains, where it is sourced from, and ways of collecting them. This type of data is called noise data as these company details can change if not checked repeatedly for inconsistencies.
If the data isn’t accurate and updated frequently then its effects can be quite drastic, as it can cause a decrease in sales, loss of clients, and even spoil a brand’s reputation. You should constantly evaluate the reliability of a data provider and the accuracy of the data they provide.
B2B Data Sources
The data should be sourced from reputable sources, and be refreshed frequently, while the software should also be updated. An API service provider offers real-time validation, where the database is constantly being updated. Some data providers also offer sample testing of their database and matching techniques so you can measure results.
It is very important to have a complete B2B contact list, especially when you are prospecting and selling as it enables you to be more focused. You have to purchase full access to a contact database, as it includes everything about a particular industry or a market of your interest. Everything from the company’s name, email id to its address, revenue, turnover, industry, number of employees, company hierarchy, technologies, and any other detail that you may require.
Not having enough information will undermine the success of your marketing strategies. Therefore, you should find out what regions, industries, or other segments, the data provider specializes in. One of the mistakes some companies make is acquiring data from two to three data providers, but this can be expensive and lead to data being scattered all over the place.
So, you can just buy full access to just one high-quality database that enables you to centralize your information flow and is befitting to your business.
There are approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being obtained, with the number growing on a daily basis. This is exactly why it is important to get verified data.
Making a buyer’s personas is mandatory for B2B companies because they can understand the customer’s interests, their pain points, and hidden motivating factors and use them to market their products and services. The more information the data provider monitors, the more accurate your buyer persona will be. The topmost data providers will provide you with the smallest details on every aspect of a company’s activity and spare no details.
Most small B2B data providers will not provide you with financial insights, but these details are important as it allows you to assess an acquisition deal or other investment possibilities and brings to the surface underlying issues. With these details in hand, your company can understand the customer pain points and personalize a deal based on their needs.
A buyer’s persona is a vital part of a performance business development strategy because it contains all the important details of the company so you can cater to their needs and interests. Company insights like the technology stack used by a particular B2B company can be leveraged by you to stay ahead in the competition. Very few data providers monitor company news and financial insights, but if you find one that does you will be blessed with sales triggers that will increase your revenue.
The database can be taken from the same or different sources, but the true practicality of data is when it is used in various ways depending on the goals of a certain department. Different departments of a B2B company including the products, marketing, or sales use the database in totally distinct ways. And your company’s departments may be interested in certain peculiarities that multiple databases can’t provide.
Therefore, it is your data provider’s responsibility to provide you with a database that is accessible, filtered with multiple criteria, and accurate along with predictive analytics, notification, and tracking tools. Some well-known data provider gives you the option of getting notified about your B2B clients and their actions such as lawsuits. A tip here is to ask your data provider about the extent of filtering systems and monitoring capabilities.
Every B2B company has a unique goal with its requirements and different ways of managing them. Which why when looking for the right data vendor, check if their data is vast, detailed, and has a highly customizable feature. Most of the data vendors provide flexible databases, you should check which data goes the best with your goals and choose them.
While looking at its function you can check whether it has location, SIC code, company size, revenue, digital insights. Not only that you can also check what other databases they offer and if they can be used in multiple different ways. If the data provider offers you customization of the information in the database, then you can save money by downloading datasets created according to your unique needs, and not the entire database which might contain unneeded information.
The usability of the database is very important, especially now when the data and computing resources are available to everyone. According to many studies, usability is as important as the performance and functionality of databases. With the new technology and software being developed every day, there are many new techniques such as natural language interface to enhance the ease of use of databases.
The main goal of the database is to ease marketing and production processes and enhance sales. If you have opted for a well-established B2B data provider, they will provide you with datasets that will instantly download and will act as the fuel for your CRM systems, marketing automation, and sales development tools and practices.
This way your data will be automatically and timely enriched, while the continuous flow of data will save your time and money. With API integration, you should be able to get access to all the up-to-date information and to all tools which is within the terms of your subscription. This will also eliminate the need for handling manual data requests and having uninterrupted access to B2B intelligence.
When choosing a data provider make sure that you are satisfied with the security of your data. You should ask them about the firewalls, security features, and privacy policy. This makes you certain that your company database will not be captured, sold, rented or shared with others. Customer service is another feature that must be taken into consideration while choosing a data provider.
Since you will be interacting closely with the data provider, it is advisable to check the level of customer service before making the purchase. Databases are usually complex and require you to be in constant touch with your B2B information provider until your employees understand or master all the platform options. A good agent will help you learn, answer your queries, assist you with customization, and give advice on what would suit your needs.
The price of the database can be a major deterring factor while purchasing a database. However, many companies get caught up in the expenses rather than assessing ROI. When you are negotiating for a good deal, remember to balance the goals you want to achieve versus the price of the said database. Do not neglect business opportunities without looking at the return on such an investment.
Make sure that some useful subscription tools are also included in the package or you can pay extra or a higher amount for the advanced functionalities as they are extremely useful. It is often more profitable to pay extra for added advanced functionalities. A good tip here is always to look for the best value for money according to the goals of your particular project.
There are numerous B2B data providers and it can get challenging to choose one company where you can invest your money in exchange for the highest quality of the database. The main goal of looking for a good data provider is data acquisition, internal productivity maximization, the accuracy of the data, tools provided, additional data costs, no inconsistencies or decrease in leads, and improvement in lead generation.
The data partner you choose must have a clear and accountable approach for collaborating with a customer and providing good customer care. It is a trustable and good data provider then they will understand your goals and offer you the best database options which can be both ready-to-use solutions or a customizable product.
Hope the points above will help you make the right decision about your data provider.
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