It may seem like there’s always a new, popular sales and marketing term that catches on in business circles.
Words like pivot, disrupt and intuitive. Don’t even get us started on “hustle” and “grind”.
One term you may not be familiar with, but could be the most powerful tool that has become available to you is Behavioral Intent Data.
Are we talking about serial killers? FBI Behavioral units? No, we’re not talking about Silence of the Lambs here.
But Dr. Lecter would appreciate the data. Because it’s all about the data. And it’s all about helping you make more sales to people who already want to buy.
Because Behavioral Intent Data tells you when your prospects are in market and are ready to buy.
The timeworn sales and marketing methodology is to take internal data that has been compiled and analyze it from there to predict what prospects/clients MIGHT do based on the info.
Behavioral Intent Data, however, is REAL TIME sales intelligence, telling you what prospects are looking to do NOW.
It takes the guesswork out of prospecting.
Sure, the old-school sales model consisted of sales reps ripping pages out of the phone book and dialing, buying leads to start “spray and pray” prospecting, or canvassing industrial parks and playing hit or miss (or hide and seek) with unsuspecting prospects.
When prospecting cold leads like this there is no guarantee that your product or service is top of mind, or if it’s even on your prospects’ radar.
With Behavioral Intent Data, you have a level of confidence that there is relevancy in your proactive contact, based on discussions and actions observed in real-time.
Behavioral Intent Data tells you where your prospects are, what they are looking at and WHEN they are interested in buying.
Studies show that that 89% of B2B buyers use the internet during the B2B research process and on average do 12 searches prior to engaging on a specific brand’s site.
Wouldn’t you want to know when your prospects are engaged in a buying decision, or close to buying?
The probabilities of closing go in your favor, and if you are the first one to make contact, then you have a much better chance at closing the deal.
Sales is all about having an edge. Behavioral Intent Data gives your sales team that edge.
If your sales team is properly trained to sell, getting this valuable info in their hands increases their chances of converting new clients, upselling existing clients, or preventing current current clients from being scooped up by the competition (reducing churn).
Behavioral intent data allows companies to focus their sales and marketing resources on buyers that are actively taking steps to research a particular service or product. This buying signal data can come in many forms:
- Reading articles (product specific or industry related)
- Social Media Posting (engagement, questions, hashtags)
- Social Media Interactions (when decision makers engage with competitors on social)
- Watching Videos (explainer, whiteboard and how-to videos)
- Website Visits (searching competitors sites)
- Signups and Downloads (whitepapers and webinars)
- Event Attendance (Attending industry conferences and tradeshows)
- Hiring Trends (change in senior functions, hiring for new roles)
The desire is there.
For example, if you sell artificial intelligence aimed at the trucking industry to make freight brokerage more streamlined and efficient, that’s a pretty tight market niche.
If you are able to leverage behavioral intent data about contacts or accounts searching online or discussing on social media about AI in the trucking industry, you know there is a high probability of buying intent on the searchers part.
If these same prospects are searching multiple competitor websites, asking questions on social media and downloading white papers – that shows interest. Remember AIDA? Attention Interest Desire Action?
A salesperson doesn’t need to create interest or desire; the buyer’s actions and behaviors are already shown to be there.
Behavioral Intent Data puts the most valuable information in the sales rep’s hands: the direct contact details of everyone who meets their target profile, and who is taking action anywhere on the internet that shows interest and intent to buy the products and services they sell.
Behavioral Intent Data allows you to better understand your clients, prospects, and leads. LeadSift’s Behavioral Intent Data helps you to understand what’s going on in your market by seeing what actions your leads and customers take outside of your own digital properties. Whether they interact with a competitor’s piece of content, engage in social media conversations about your industry, or followed a competitor on a social media channel — intent data keeps you in-the-know and enables you to take action.
Why you need it.
There are many tools in a salesperson’s toolbox, why not use the ones that eliminate guessing and give you the best chance of getting in front of prospects and target accounts at the time they are most likely to buy?
It’s the difference between throwing food in the cage during feeding time at the zoo and throwing some food in the cage when the animals are sleeping.
They may eventually eat it when they finally wake up, but it may take awhile.
Don’t be last. You want to have your offerings ready to sell when it’s feeding time.
Many times, the first rep who contacts a prospect will be the one who wins the deal. Most reps also know that a company’s needs can change at any time—a prospect can go for months without showing any interest in your product or service, and then suddenly start to shop for a solution because they’ve encountered a problem that needs to be fixed—NOW.
By collecting Behavioral Intent Data from all over the web and social networks—not just IP based data that leaves your sales & marketing team guessing—and providing that timely data to your sales reps, their productivity will be increased and it will help them engage the right people at the right time and win more deals.
LeadSift’s Behavioral Intent Data helps you to monitor conversations within your industry and allows your sales reps to provide information and value at the right time.
Behavioral Intent Data is not guessing, it’s not predictive. It’s knowing that an account has your target buyer looking at your website.
Behavioral Intent Data is about knowing when those real decision makers do something that shows their intent to buy, their intent to get information, and to get content. It’s real-time sales intelligence.
It’s feeding time and you’re the first one to offer a fat, juicy steak.
Being able to identify prospects who are asking questions and doing research within your industry lets your sales team initiate contact and position themselves as problem solvers and value-adders.To increase your odds of talking to prospects who are actively seeking out your solution, schedule a demo with the LeadSift team today.