- Lead scoring and prioritisation of leads
B2B companies that establish a large number of outbound leads do not always have the time to reach out to everyone. Lead scoring, which is the process of ranking and prioritising accounts, comes in handy in this instance.
This process can be optimised with intent data. For instance, if a lead interacts with your pricing page, this will indicate a greater interest in buying than a lead that is simply viewing your product overview page. Your sales team can reach out to a prospect once they have obtained a particular score.
By incorporating first-party behavioral data into your existing model, your team can rank your prospects in order of intent so you can prioritise your leads. On the other hand, third-party data would give your team additional information about the path your lead takes when they are not on your site
Ultimately, Intent data aligns your sales and marketing team by ensuring your marketing team scores leads meticulously and predicts their purchase intent so sales can then take over and prioritise whom to contact based on their readiness to purchase.
- Identify buyer interest early in their journey
Timing is crucial in B2B sales so arriving late to a deal should be avoided at all costs. Then again, spending too much time on deals that you sensed would never result in a purchase is also less than ideal.
With intent data, you are more likely to a) get in front of your target customers while they are still searching for a product or solution, b) intercept them before they start comparing vendors to demonstrate your company’s authority in the industry, and c) frame their analysis by getting your sales rep in the driver’s seat and steering the conversation.
- Retain existing customers and upsell them
What is great about intent data is that it is not only geared towards increasing target accounts but retaining existing ones. The challenge with reducing churn is that the customer journey is not linear and even after a purchase has been made, customer challenges still need to be monitored by the customer success department.
Intent data directly monitors signals that would often go unnoticed and deal with questions such as, are your leads’ actions suggesting an interest in upselling and cross-selling?
By using intent data, your team will be more aware of a) who requires support or additional attention, b) it could reveal gaps in your product offering and reveal more information about customers expectations, and c) when gaps become known, you can steer future product development and increase customer lifetime value.
- Improve lead quality and reduce conflict
Pinpointing and nurturing prospects is one of the most resource-intensive activities in B2B sales and marketing. One of the reasons is that sales and marketing often disagree on their lead’s quality, readiness, maturity, and when to make contact.
Intent data makes prospecting simpler and decreases the amount of time spent on this process by decreasing the steps involved. By arming your sales team with verified intent-based leads and real contacts that are reachable, your team can rest assured that your prospects are well researched.
Having an increased awareness of who is viewing what and how your sales and marketing team will be able to engage with leads as early as possible and tailor their messaging.