Relatively often, managers who ignore the importance of Market Intelligence make statements such as “ I serve all sectors of activity… ” or “ I serve any company that needs XYZ services ”.
These statements do not help define the target and can lead your company to face 2 types of problems:
Wasting too much time trying to contact the wrong leads
There are companies that waste a lot of time trying to contact france business email list the wrong leads. Leads that are simply not worth spending time and money trying to sell to, either because they are not interested in your product or service, do not have enough resources or simply because they are far from being your ideal customer.
These companies often think that active prospecting doesn’t work or that it’s not suitable for their business, when in fact they’re wasting their time by targeting the wrong target. Invest in B2B sales intelligence !
Ignoring the real potential of your market
In other words, not knowing the real number of prospects that exist and that can effectively be reached via active prospecting.
For example, a company once approached Econodata to improve its prospecting. They had a very “niche” product, for a few companies, and so they believed they knew exactly the size of their market. However, when using the Econodata platform, they discovered that their market was actually three times the size they thought it was!
Are you having trouble with prospecting?
Examine your prospect list to see if companies from different sectors, sizes, regions and profiles are all mixed together. This lack of focus is a major symptom.
Could any of these companies potentially buy from you? That may indeed be true. However, your active prospecting strategy will not work with this line of reasoning.
Active prospecting requires defined targets and well-segmented lists, as there are segments that may not respond well to this type of approach and you certainly don't want to mix them up in order to identify them.
High-performance sales teams have much more focused and carefully segmented lists. These companies have usually found a prospecting niche and are concentrating all their efforts on becoming leaders in that niche. They are speaking the language and topics that that part of their list (niche) wants to hear about.
This is the goal with market intelligence:
Discover the niche in which the active prospecting strategy will generate the most results for your company.
Market intelligence is the stage of defining the target market and planning prospecting, and therefore, it is essential for your active prospecting strategy to work. When done properly, you:
It's easier to identify qualified leads for your business
Increases the chances of closing deals.
It supplies your team with more motivation and energy, consequently more results.
Where to start with Market Intelligence
Start by defining your ideal customer profile . The best way to do this is to start with your current customers. Ask yourself the following questions and take notes:
In which segment do we have the most deals?
In which segment do we have the most satisfied customers?
Which segments are most likely to close with us?
In which segments do we have good testimonials, case studies or important clients to serve as a reference?
These segments are your initial hypotheses and you should list them one by one and prospect them separately. We want homogeneous lists to evaluate the result of each one individually.
Next, you need a tool that allows you to analyze your market, perform segmentations and outline possible prospecting scenarios. With the Free Market Calculator , you can measure market size.
Econodata's market intelligence and lead generation platform allows you to analyze and segment the market, as well as generate leads and prospect. Our consultants are trained to pay close attention to the intelligence stage, helping you identify the best segments and map the CNAE sectors that are most suitable for your business.