Sales and marketing professionals in the Boston area recently gathered to share their experiences using Priority Engine. Here are the key takeaways for successful Priority Engine usage throughout its core stages:
Getting started: prioritization and alignment
Building Account Lists filtered by topic interests, vendor interests, and installed technologies lays down the foundation for successful Priority Engine usage. However, Priority Engine users also stress the importance of the next step: aligning content and messaging with each Account List’s characteristics.
Many attendees are currently running successful ABM programs with Priority Engine and have insights on how to refine your ABM approach. One tip is to upload a target account list in Priority Engine so it can be used to ensure that sales reps are prioritizing active accounts. Before reaching out to prospects, reps research their vendor interests, topic interests, and installed technologies on Priority Engine. This enables them to go into the call armed with competitive intelligence and be prepared to differentiate their solutions.
Another Priority Engine user relies on the tool to pinpoint active accounts in specific industries. This allows them to deliver relevant content that will resonate with their target. For example: case studies featuring customer successes in the same vertical as the prospect.
Execution: marketing and sales outreach in tandem
While B2B tech companies tend to approach marketing and sales outreach in various ways, Priority Engine users have a clear consensus: outreach in tandem produces the best results.
One user no longer practices the approach of relying solely on the marketing team to nurture contacts and then pass them over to sales, as this doesn’t suffice– marketing can’t generate enough volume and sales reps are left hungry for prospects to contact. Their current approach to allow marketing and sales to use Priority Engine and reach out simultaneously is a success. Sales reps personalize their outreach with Priority Engine insights while marketers simultaneously deliver relevant content.
Another common use-case among Priority Engine users is events. As one marketing user suggests, marketing teams can use Priority Engine to fuel webinar and event registrations, while sales reps can use the tool to engage accounts actively researching in the territory. This dual outreach ensures that sales reps can focus on the most Active Prospects involved in a deal while the marketing team provides air cover by influencing the rest of the buying team.
Measuring results: success isn’t one-size-fits-all
Reporting capabilities vary from company to company, and therefore, measures of success typically range as well. Even so, Priority Engine users overall agree that their main interest is measuring influenced and sourced pipeline. With that said, they still understand that when it comes to technology products, sales cycles can dictate initial results.
Because of this, users also keep track of other KPIs that help shed light on performance throughout the early, middle and later stages of the sales cycle. For marketing metrics, one user tracks earlier KPIs, including email clicks/opens and MQL generation. For sales metrics, one user focuses on meetings set and opportunities opened by reps who use Priority Engine for calling. Users agree that the key is getting the right Priority Engine data into the systems they use to track performance. Users find Priority Engine’s direct integration with MAPs and CRM useful for this.
Whether you’re just getting started with Priority Engine or are a longtime user, we hope these takeaways regarding prioritization and alignment, coordinated marketing and sales outreach, and methods for measuring success will help guide your own strategy for using intent data.
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