When tech company Esri Sweden realized that the sales meetings were not resulting in enough new business, the company decided it was time for a transformation. It put gut feeling aside and decided to start trusting the data of its sales and marketing processes.
The result? The number of new customers exploded in the first year – also the sales and marketing organization became much more cohesive.
The challenge: Identifying potential customers
Esri’s system is one of the most advanced in the world. To retain its position in the market, each year the company invests 30 percent of its income into research and development. That being said, it’s not exactly difficult for the company’s salespeople to book meetings – everyone wants to hear about Esri’s exciting technical solutions.
Yet this enormous potential ultimately became an obstacle for the company’s sales and marketing departments:
“We had so many meetings, but generated far too little business,” explains Esri Sverige’s marketing manager, Ulrika Linné Åqvist. “We needed to do better at our prospecting and lead generation.”
The solution: Narrowed prospect list with data-driven analyzis
To succeed, Esri decided to enlist Dun & Bradstreet analysts to find out about the ins and outs of the company’s existing customers.
“Too many B2B companies trust their gut feeling when it comes to a potential customer. But why guess when data on existing customers can teach a company so much? You can’t create demand. Instead you have to target your activities at those who have a natural need for what you offer. Everything else is just a waste of time and money,” says Engagement Manager at Dun & Bradstreet Analytics & Advisory Eveliina Hultén.
The analysis began with Dun & Bradstreet interviewing ten of Esri Sverige’s customers to identify their needs and driving forces.
“We wanted to know their plans for investing in analysis-heavy areas, whether they have high system maturity but low specialist expertise, and whether they are a growing company with faith in the future,” explains Eveliina. “Based on our insight from these already strong customers, we could then ‘score’ similar companies based on key criteria.”
