When companies are hiring for categories such as Marketing, Sales, Financing … companies are normally in good shape to invest in new solutions that would aid them in these areas. So if you’re trying to find a segment of companies that would fit your product? Don’t overlook the hiring intent data!
Hiring intent indicates first off if a company is in good shape and in buying mode. If they are hiring for many positions this is a good sign they are in position to spend money. Specific job titles / job categories indicate what kind of area they are currently investing in. Are they hiring for SDRs, HR managers, iOS developers, Support agents … ? Each of these indicate they might be in need of a new HR system, TalkDesk software, offshore dev, Sales enablement software, Marketing analytics system …
Inside a job description one can also find expertise companies are searching for like: Content Marketing, Lead Nurturing, eCommerce Dev, …
Job openings also include information about what kind of techniques a company is exercising. For example on could find keywords such as: Kanban, Scrum, Metrics Driven, Customer Success, Social Media, Sales Prospecting … and can help identify more forward thinking prospects that are more open to new solutions.
Inevitably job openings also include location. So if you would analyze a large company with many subsidiaries one could identify which regions they are currently investing in. Do they have 27 jobs open for an office in Hong Kong and 1 position open in France? Are they hiring for 12 SDRs in Utah and have 5 jobs open in New York -> this can help focus your efforts to promote your solution to the right subsidiary.
One of the good indicators is also job type. Is company offering Full-time, Part-time job or a Remote job possibility? For example your solution provides outsourced blog writing. Companies searching for part-time blog writers with a possibility of a remote work should prove to be a great fit. Thanks to job opening data you are able to figure this out and spend more time with highly qualified prospects.
You can combine hiring intent with other technographic data ie.: find companies using SalesForce, HubSpot, Tableau, AutoCad … & at the same time hiring for Marketing. These combinations can prove to be really powerful & help you pin point the target segment with laser like accuracy.
We’re proud to announce our newly developed system for uncovering and segmenting leads. You can take advantage of the following segments to create perfectly tailored lead lists.
Segment by companies that are:
hiring for specific talent (dev, marketing, sales, …)
use specific products: Saleforce, Oracle, SAP …
Companies that promote different forward-thinking methodologies: agile development, data driven development, are into content marketing, customer success, prospecting …
experienced specific events recently: launched products, received funding, expanded offices, invested into assets, developed new apps, relocated headquarters, made leadership changes…
led by key contacts you want to target (CTO, CMO, co-founders …)
Why is all this important? Because now you can generate much more personalised emails and unearth prospects through lead activities that were hard to automatically track before. We use natural language processing and machine learning to unearth the above found data. Data is nicely structured and you could go ahead and not just pick companies that had leadership changes, but only those that changed CTOs or you could define what kind of products companies you are targeting they have launched: mobile, web, payments …
Your picked audience will be super targeted and your messaging very tailored. Meaning you’ll send less spam and more emails to the companies that would truly benefit from using your product. Which sales should be all about. Selling to those companies that need your products most and thus saving everyone lots of time with badly targeted leads.
As Max Altschuler points out in his book Hacking Sales you can segment companies or lead lists by criteria such as firmographic data (location, num of employees, revenue …) and with tools like Datanyze also segment these lists by technologies.
PredictLeads adds new dimension to this kind of segmentation. With tracking events found on blogs, news sites and job openings using sophisticated machine learning algorithms, we allow you to target companies on a very granular basis.
For sure you won’t be able to produce lead lists that are tens of thousands of prospects long. But this is exactly the point … These are your spear accounts as Jason Lemkin puts it. The leads of high value and big ROI. We don’t recommend adding them to fully automated drip campaigns but rather using supervised and tailored messaging to each of these accounts. The benefits will be well worth it.
We started PredictLeads with the mission to find actionable business data in public documents.
HISTORY
Categorized news articles about companies was our first offering, with which our partners were able to display highly relevant news to their customers. But quickly we saw even bigger demand for more structured business data.
The main issue was that there was no way to extract such data with our existing classification approach. For example, there was no way to know which company was acquired and which one did acquiring. Or, who was hired to which position within a company.
Although we knew the solution to the problem, we wanted to build something for the long term. Today, after 6 months of building systems, gathering training data and QA processes, we’re proud to finally launch Business Signals API.
FUTURE
At its core is PredictLeads Entity and Relationship Extraction System (PERES) which performs 3 steps:
It starts with scanning millions of public documents every day.
Public document examples: news articles, blog posts, SEC filings, job openings, PR releases, industry news etc.
System then extracts 20 different types of entities from the those documents.
Entity examples: organizations, persons, locations, money, job titles, business divisions etc.
At the last step, it tries to identify relevant relationships between these entities.
Well, actually, there’s a fourth step, human supervision. We know that machines are not yet fully reliable, so most of the relationships are still human approved for highest quality.
To get a better picture what types of data are we talking about, here are two examples of data in JSON format:
{
"id":1656497,
"type":"signal",
"categories":[
"launches"
],
"title":"BMW launches ReachNow car-sharing service on Sep 19th 16'.",
"body":"BMW will launch its ReachNow car-sharing service in Portland on Sept. 19, the car-maker announced today.",
"domain":"bmw.com", "url":"http://www.geekwire.com/2016/bmw-unveils-details-reachnow-car-sharing-launch-portland-next-month/",
"found_at":"2016-08-15T02:00:00.000+02:00",
"removed_at":null,
"data":{
"location":"Portland",
"product":"ReachNow car-sharing service",
"date":"2016-09-19T02:00:00.000+02:00",
"organizations":[
"bmw.com"
]
}
}
Or
{
"id":1915491,
"type":"signal",
"categories":[
"invests_into_assets"
],
"title":"Domino Printing Sciences Plc invests into assets : factory on Aug 18th 16'.",
"body":"Cambridge-headquartered commercial inkjet printing business Domino Printing Sciences has opened its new £19m factory in China.",
"domain":"domino-printing.com",
"url":"http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/central-and-east/domino-printing-sciences-opens-chinese-factory",
"found_at":"2016-08-18T09:44:26.000+02:00",
"removed_at":null,
"data":{
"location":"China",
"amount":"25332000",
"assets":"factory",
"date":"2016-08-18T09:44:26.000+02:00",
"organizations":[
"domino-printing.com"
]
}
}
Types of applications are (almost) endless, but I will list a few we had in mind:
Sales Enablement Solutions: empower customers to know everything about their prospects’ business without Googling around.
Predictive Lead Scoring: high quality buying signals should be core data for predictive models
Account Based Marketing or Sales: enable customers to generate automated highly personalized and relevant messages to their existing or potential customers.
By now you have probably already heard of sales triggers or trigger event selling. Maybe you even went as far as setting up a Google Alerts system to track specific keywords or accounts. But do you actually use that information in conversations with your prospects or customers? As we’ve discovered from our interviews with customers and prospects the answer is “Probably not.”
In case you just need a little nudge, here are 8 stats that might help you take the next step .
But, before I get into details, let me tell you a story how InnoPath discovered the value of sales triggers by accident.
When InnoPath was just starting up, the founders were trying to match their algorithm with the right application. By talking with NEC, one of Japan’s then leading feature phone manufacturers, they found out the corporation is concerned about costly device recalls on account of several firmware malfunctions and bugs. That made InnoPath founders realize they could leverage their algorithm to build a solution which uncovers hidden firmware bugs. Demo with NEC went great and InnoPath’s first deal was signed.
Now that InnoPath figured out who their ideal customers are, they set up a system that tracks keywords revolving around firmware bugs appearing in news articles or forums. In the next 3 months they closed a number of major handset manufacturers, such as Samsung and Sharp.
Eventually, InnoPath achieved over 90% market share in Japan. Deals were closed within months at high-margin prices and competition couldn’t come close.
An inspiring success story.
Now, without further ado, here are the stats:
Prioritising your prospects by key trigger events lifts conversion rates. Companies where key trigger events occurred are 400% more likely to buy. (Source: B2BLeadBlog)
Connecting with companies that have recently received funding is a great first step to sales triggers adoption. Those who recently experienced a financial event and can now afford your services, are now up to 8x more likely to buy. (Source: SHIFT! By Craig Ellias)
Depending on industry and geography, the data suggests that a change in vendors is triggered by changing managers 28% of the time. (Source: PersistIQ)
Frustration with the existing vendor is one of the greatest motivators for change. Organizations recently dissatisfied with the status quo are up to 10x more likely to switch vendors. (Source: Craig Ellias)
Always be on the lookout for trigger events at target accounts and start a conversation with them before anyone else. Sales reps have a 74% chance of closing the deal, if they engage a prospect first in a consultative manner. (Source: DestinationCRM)
70% of customers want to talk to sales during the early stages in the buying process: when they’re information-grazing, when they first learn what you can do and when they put you on the shortlist. (Source: ITSMA)
You can close that event-triggered account, even though your solution wasn’t budgeted for at the beginning of the year. 80% of B2B purchases are unplanned and unbudgeted. (Source: DemandGen)
Segment your accounts by trigger events to gain a better conversion rate. Event-triggered campaigns will see their messages receive, at minimum, 5x the response rate of non-targeted push messages. (Source: Gartner)
iProspect received an award, our API system would give you information on the name of the received award:
“labels”:”award”, “organisation”:”iProspect”, “subject”:”Best use of data and analytics in real-time for a search campaign”, “published_at”: “June 2, 2016”; “date”: “June 2, 2016”, “url”:”http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/marketing/mam/iprospect-earns-a-silver-medal-at-2016-ames-awards-160602″
Qadium just received funding, our API would also let you know which round they’re at and how much they have raised:
There are a few more events like the ones above that we can bubble up for you such as: “expansion” and “partnership”.
We hope that with this kind of information you’ll be able to generate even more personalised products. If you’re interested in trying out our beta version, send us an email at roq@predictleads.com.
John Barrows (jbarrows.com) said recently in a SalesHacker conference that if there is one thing a sales rep needs to do when reaching out is to start each call by providing a reason for contact. They need to be relevant to open up a conversation with a prospect.
In this article we’ll share 6 examples on how a sales rep can create more relevant outbound emails when uncovering sales triggers. Sales triggers can be events such as leadership change, funding received, vendor changed, new technology introduced, new job opening, acquisition, award, etc.
1. Leadership changed
Whenever a prospect changes one of their executives these new appointed execs are more likely to introduce some changes to their current processes. This is a good time to follow up with them. Say you notice a target prospect has appointed new CTO called Ben. Your email could look something like:
Subject: How CTO’s can automate marketing efforts …
Ben,
congratulations on you new position. If you will be trying out some new technologies in the following weeks I’d love to show you a demo on how we can automate your marketing efforts #{insert your one line pitch}. Are you available this Th at 10am or 3pm for a 10 min Skype chat?
2. Funding received
If a company receives new round of financing or if they’ve succeeded with their crowdfunding campaign they should have some resources available. This again is a good time to check if your solution makes a cut.
Subject: Congratulations on new funding Alex
Alex,
I noticed you just closed another round of financing. Since our solution helps insurance companies such as yours reduce their risks #{insert your one line pitch} I thought we might add value to what you do.
Would you have 5 mins next week for a quick Skype chat?
3. New job opening
With job openings it depends on what you’re selling. Say you’re outsourcing iOS development and you notice a prospect’s company is hiring iOS devs. Knowing this allows you to send highly relevant email and have a better timing.
Subject: Want to outsource iOS development?
Mike,
saw you’re hiring iOS developers and since we outsource iOS development I said I’ll reach out to you.
Do you want to schedule a 5 min chat on Wed 9am or 3pm next week about what we can do for you?
4. Newtechnology
Say the prospect just started using Marketo and your product is tightly connected with Marketo platform now is the perfect time to introduce your solution. If the prospect installed SugarCRM – and you offer an add-on for SugarCRM include that in an email. The same if they’ve put on Vimeo video – and you’re a video producing company.
If you’re able to differentiate which prospects are more likely to convert than the others based on the technologies they are using, you will find “new tech” alerts of high benefit.
You could usually send an email sth along the lines of:
Subject: We can help your leverage your Marketo system
Hey Michelle,
saw you guys started using Marketo. Our solution helps you analyse all the inbound leads automatically and filters out the false positives #{provide a reason how your solution helps them because of using this specific technology}.
Would you like to see a 5 min demo on Tu at 3pm next week?
5. Notable mention
Say you find an article in an online magazine (NYTimes, Medium, TechCrunch …) writing about your prospect. Notable mentions are not as significant as the previous examples but they are still better than just checking in or touching base.
Subject: TechCrunch’s article
Hey Josh,
Noticed you guys are getting some traction recently – saw you in TechCrunch article. We offer a tool that automates your social postings #{your one line pitch}. Would you like to join our webinar next Wed at 4pm on how to manage your social channels?
6. New product offered
You might find your prospect just launched new version of their product. You might offer an online customer support system you might write:
Subject: New product might deserve new online customer support system?
Hey Jeniffer,
saw JenniferCompany just introduced new product, cons on that! For new products to get good adoption it’s essential your customers know how to use it and where to find help if they don’t, right? We offer super intuitive customer support system #{your pitch}. Would you find 5 min on your calendar next week, say Th 9am for me to show you a quick demo?
Using triggers events to be relevant when reaching out increases engagement with your prospects and helps you form better relationships. Thus conversions and up-sells will go up.
When different triggers meet
It gets interesting if a company has changed their CMO, received funding and already introduced some new vendors – all in the previous 2 months.
Your perfect email now depends on what you’re selling. You need to assess your strengths and put forward the one that creates most conversions.
More on combining the triggers and using this to create emails in our next post.
Our API with documentation (https://predictleads.com/documentation) is finally ready for you to test it out. If you’ll have any questions or will need any assistance feel free to contact us at support@predictleads.com
Craig Elias divided the sales cycle in his book Shift! the following way:
1. Status Quo
Prospect is happy with their current process you are trying to optimize.
2. Window of Dissatisfaction
Prospect is unhappy with their current solution but is not yet searching for alternatives.
3. Searching Alternatives
Prospect is currently searching for alternatives.
When trying to sell to a prospect when they are in their Status Quo phase is the hardest. Only around 1% of them will convert. Prospect searching for alternatives is a better option and an easier sell. Though again not perfect since you’re already competing against other alternatives prospect is exploring.
The best time to reach a customer is obviously when a prospect is not satisfied with their current state and just before they start searching for alternatives. Our goal is enabling you to detect when a prospect enters this phase. Getting the first mover advantage and always staying on top of what’s happening with your prospects is what we bring to your selling process. If you’d like a demo of our beta product shoot us an email at hei@predictleads.com.
So we’ve been developing our solution for some 6 months now and are finally ready to open it up for you to test it. You’ll be able to register on November the 1st!
Simply upload a file with your leads (domain, website or email address) and we’ll do our best to automatically find you fresh relevant triggers. Identifying opportunities that are out there right now should become a breeze. You’ll know exactly when to reach out and build better relationships with your potential and existing clients because of it.
We go through millions of websites searching for information about your clients to find triggers that matter most to you. Finding triggers signalling that a prospect is now more likely to buy or upgrade your service. These are events such as leadership changes, received funding, new technology installs, new products offered, new valuable PR mentions, newly opened job positions etc.
With the aforementioned info at hand you can simply filter out the best 50-100 prospects out of thousands and contact them now.
We use machine learning, information extraction, natural language processing, text analysis and stream mining. We’re now working closely with our first customers to create a product that will bring value. You’d like a test drive? Shoot us an email at roq@predictleads.com and we’ll do our best to help you reach out at the right time to the right prospects.
