Key Components of a B2B Sales Intelligence Platform

B2B sales require a more strategic approach that focuses on building relationships, prioritises problem-solving and provides an excellent value proposition and customer service. Sales professionals must have an in-depth understanding of the market, their customers, the challenges involved and their own USP, along with knowledge about the industry. Another key aspect that reinforces this relationship is strong communication skills and the ability to establish trust and rapport with the customers.

B2B Sales Intelligence Platform

B2B is a fiercely competitive industry with a vast landscape. Sales teams require actionable insights and tools to sort, identify, assess, verify and engage potential customers efficiently. B2B sales intelligence platforms assist them in doing just that and help them optimise their efforts and drive revenue growth to boost their business.

Features of a B2B Sales Intelligence Platform

Company Profile and Contact Data
A B2B Sales Intelligence platform contains detailed information about companies like their size, location, type of industry, company turnover and technology infrastructure. Some features help a business to search and filter data based on desired criteria. The platform also provides accurate and updated contact information for decision-makers, which includes job titles, email addresses and telephone numbers.

B2B Lead Generation and Data Enrichment
A B2B sales intelligence platform offers advanced search functionalities and lead-scoring capabilities based on specific criteria, fit and engagement level. They are also integrated with CRM systems to streamline lead management. We will discuss more on this, later in the article.

Data Enrichment
The platform also includes data enrichment features to complete missing information and update existing records including any changes in them. Any new data undergoes automatic verification (including email verification) to ensure data accuracy.

Customer Intent Data
B2B sales intelligence platforms are enabled to track online behaviour like content consumption, and websites visited, and help businesses to prioritise leads based on interest in their products and services. They also offer real-time alerts for website visits and downloads.

ABS (Account-Based Sales) Capabilities
The platform has a feature to create and manage account lists, track account activities and engagement and also identify key influencers within target accounts.

Sales Estimation and Performance Analysis
A B2B Sales Intelligence Platform helps a business identify growth opportunities. Sales pipeline management tracks the progress of a deal and helps overcome bottlenecks when needed. They enable customisable reporting and dashboards to visualise KPIs.

Integrations
The platform offers seamless integration with CRM systems, marketing automation platforms and other tools. The data can be exported in various formats for further analysis as well. They offer an open API for custom integrations and access to data.

Additional features of the B2B sales intelligence platform include mobile optimisation, sales engagement tools, competitive intelligence, data export and customisation and customer support.

A Guide to B2B Lead Generation

B2B lead generation is the backbone of a sales organisation. Amidst the sea of competition, generating high-quality leads is the key to sustained revenue and growth. B2B lead gen includes the identification of potential customers, attracting them and converting them into leads that can be fostered into valuable clients.

Also read: The Perfect AI Procurement Software for Your Business

B2B Lead Generation - Cracking the Code

There are several stages involved in a B2B lead generation process -

1. Know your customers Identifying the target audience and defining a clear customer profile is very important in the process of B2B lead gen. It is essential to tailor your outreach efforts based on what they need, the challenges involved, and their buying behaviour to get the desired responses.

2. Attract Leads Once you have set eyes on your target audience, the next step in B2B lead generation is to create and design content to optimise your website and use relevant marketing channels to promote your business to attract these potential customers.

3. Collecting Lead Details Once these targeted customers visit your website or see the advertisement, you need to collect their information and details using lead forms, pop-ups or gated content. This step in B2B lead generation can later be used to nurture leads and qualify them for sales.

4. Nurturing a Lead In B2B lead generation, this step plays a crucial role in building a relationship with potential customers by continually providing valuable interesting content, personalised communication via email, sms or WhatsApp and consistent follow-ups. This step plays an important role in accelerating these leads through the sales pipeline.

5. Lead Qualification This step in B2B lead generation helps in prioritising efforts, and it involves assessing a lead’s fit with a business model’s ideal customer profile, budget and buying timeline. The business thus gets to focus on the most qualified opportunities.

6. Passing the Baton to Sales A successful B2B lead generation culminates in the transfer of qualified prospects to the sales team. A healthy collaboration between the marketing and the sales team is crucial for this transition.

Strategies Used in B2B Lead Generation to Attract Leads

• Content Marketing - This step in B2B lead generation involves creating high-quality content that can strike a chord with your target audience and provide value to your business.

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - Make sure to keep the website engaging with optimised content to improve search engine rankings and garner traffic organically.

• Social Media Marketing - Having a strong presence on social media and more importantly being on relevant platforms to engage with your specific target audience is a great strategy in B2B lead generation.

• Email Marketing - The email marketing campaigns should be short, crisp and personalised in order to nurture the leads. Or else they might end up in a junk folder.

• Paid Advertising - Using popular platforms like Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, and Spotify Ads among others can boost B2B lead generation as they target a wider audience.

• Webinars and Online Events - Hosting interesting and informative webinars and online events helps in B2B lead gen by generating leads and building brand awareness.

• ABM or Account-Based Marketing - ABM is a B2B lead generation strategy that focuses specifically on high-value accounts and prioritises them. ABM also offers tailor-made solutions to each of their needs.

• Lead Generation Tools - Technology can be used to streamline lead generation tasks, identify leads and monitor performances.

Quantifying B2B Lead Generation Performance & Success

Sales teams should go beyond just spinning the wheels and should be able to generate results by attracting high-quality leads. B2B lead gen efforts can be evaluated based on certain key metrics. A continuous and comprehensive analysis of these metrics helps identify areas for improvement and optimise lead generation strategies.

• Lead Quantity & Quality - This is a measure of how many leads are being generated and the likelihood of their conversion.

• Conversion Efficiency - This measures the efficiency of B2B lead gen and the actual number of leads that convert into customers. The efforts should synchronise with the results.

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) - B2B lead generation performance is also measured in terms of the actual cost of acquiring a new customer.

• Return to Investment (ROI) - In B2B lead generation, ROI is the impact of your efforts based on the revenue generated from attracting leads to the costs associated with acquiring them.

What makes Nexizo a preferred B2B sales intelligence platform?

Selecting the right B2B sales intelligence platform depends on a business’ needs and budget. Nexizo is a powerful tool that can really boost B2B lead generation efforts. Nexizo ensures the best data quality, and coverage and provides accurate and comprehensive real-time data. It is a user-friendly interface - easy to adopt and has great integration capabilities.