The biggest concern for any business is generating enough leads and converting them into customers. Sadly though, approximately half of the leads in a typical sales funnel are unqualified – or worse, they are not properly segmented.
For instance, if you’re targeting companies that have just raised funding, you know they’ll be on the lookout for tools to expand their sales and marketing. Since you know your product best, you will also know if you are in a position to help them ‘scale’ on this.
In this way, segmenting your target market makes it easier to attract and convert prospects into customers.
This is where firmographic data comes in. Simply put, this includes basic business information that helps you categorize accounts (companies) that are a good fit for you. Armed with this data, you can easily identify sales triggers and buying cycles on your target accounts as you understand their company and industry.
Here are the broad categories of firmographic data:
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- Company size
- Industry
- Employee size
- Office location(s)
- SIC Code
- Zip Code
- Website traffic
- Website ranking
- Growth trajectory
- Social accounts/no of followers, etc.
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Keep in mind that this information can be mined from a number of open resources such as Angel List, LinkedIn, annual reports, industry reports, etc. or paid options like data partners.
Now that you know what firmographic data is, let’s dive into the 4 distinct ways it can help boost your sales.
1 – Helps Improve Your Messaging
According to a study by Seismic, personalized content or messaging is major driver for objectives like lead generation, sales team support, thought leadership efforts, traffic generation, etc.
It’s fairly obvious why: when you understand your prospect – the size of their company, the industry they operate in, how many employees they have, the locations they are active in – it becomes easier to create personalized sales pitches that show the value you can provide to their current standing.
Read More: The Scoop On Email Personalization For Sales And Marketing
2 – Enrich Existing Data
Firmographic data in sales can also be used to enrich and compliment other types of B2B data like technographics, intent data and contact data.
Here’s what we mean:
Suppose you’ve already built a custom list of companies based on their tech stack (technographics) that are actively looking for a solution like yours to fill in a gap (intent data). You also have information on the decision makers who can affect the sales cycle (contact data).
In this case, you can now use firmographics to understand how the companies in your list work, and what their sales process and cycle is like.
Simply put, this exercise will allow you to create a sales pitch that takes into account all the obstacles you might face in closing the account. In turn, your SDRs will be better prepared heading into the deal and less likely to fail.
3 – Categorize Qualified vs. Unqualified Leads
Armed with firmographic data for sales, you can easily segment and identify qualified prospects that are likely to convert into good customers for your business.
For instance, if your ideal market is tech companies based in newer hubs like Austin, Boston and Chicago, you can easily filter and identify these from your CRM – granted if you have up-to-date and accurate firmographic data.
This makes it easier for your sales team to focus on accounts that are a good fit for your product as opposed to targeting a larger audience that does not include your ideal accounts.
4 – Improve Your Paid Inbound Efforts
Only when you have enough information on your actual target audience can you effectively target the right people and accounts.
For instance, if you’re running ads on LinkedIn or Quora, you can target through various firmographic information. Of course, you’ll need to have firmographic data to first identify companies that fit your ideal customer profile.
In this way, you’ll not only be able to create personalized ads that speak to your prospects, but you can also target the right people without wasting money.
5 – Build And Support Your ABM Strategy
It’s no secret that most B2B companies have now adopted ABM practices to better identify their ideal prospects and businesses.
This is after all a necessity due to the rising complexity of B2B sales – consider that over 17 people influence enterprise B2B purchases now.
And this is exactly where firmographic data ties in with ABM and sales. Besides knowing the company you’re targeting, you also need to understand the market they are in and the decision makers you need to convince.
For this strategy to be successful, you need to launch multi-faceted campaigns that span several channels – in turn, this means you need the right data.
And this is how firmographic data can be used to fill your pipeline with qualified leads and prospects that are more likely to convert.
Just remember – the quality of your data pretty much determines the success of your campaigns, whether outbound or inbound. Always ensure that the data in your CRM is accurate and up-to-date.
Cloudlead specializes in sales prospecting and B2B lead generation. We mine top of the funnel leads based on your ideal customer profile with sales triggers that help you close more deals than ever. Want to learn more? Book a demo with us today.
