Companies spend a lot of time and energy on raising money. Getting funded generates a feeling of validation for the product; it signifies confidence in the product by the investment community. If calm and sobriety are absent in management, the company’s vision gets diluted in a false sense of assurance that money will solve everything.
During pre-funding, the focus is often entirely on how to raise capital to the extent that the company goes through a vacuum of direction soon after funding. The following tips are on how to stay on course during post-funding:
It is tempting to start firing on all eight cylinders once there is money in the bank. Having promised your investors growth, the first impulse is to start hiring. However, Inc. advises against this, citing the need to take at least a month to reorganize priorities, adapt, and figure out the next steps.
Prior to getting funded, most companies hire a generalist because they cannot afford specialists. However, during the growth phase, the company needs skilled staff who focus on one task and do it well rather than employees who can do multiple jobs. These specialists know exactly what solutions/services will produce growth and will save the company a huge amount of research time. Specialists are also open to learning about new products and solutions that fit within their niche set of skills.
The assumption that a professional will figure out their job is erroneous and destructive. While a specialist’s job is to focus on a singular aspect of the business, it is crucial to help the team keep their sights on the goal and vision. To this end, schedule regular meetings to discuss the implications of raising capital and the steps moving forward.
Managing financials is often a distraction for a company that is not in financial services and while doing them yourself is inefficient, not doing them is not an option. Therefore, hiring a professional accountant or ensuring existing staff has “ramp-up growth” experience is necessary to keep track of financial performance and provide investors with specific financial information.
Remember to consult with your investors when making tactical decisions, and track business performance using open dashboards.
As always, Lead411 tracks recently funded companies. These companies are 10x more likely to be adding solutions/services that you may offer. They are also more likely to hire and utilize a number of different professionals to help them grow. To learn how you can access this data and make a warmer connection to recently funded companies, sign up for a product tour today!
In the data era, there are few companies that have encompassed a holistic approach toward customer needs for data accuracy, research, outreach, and integration. Our goal at Lead411 is to be the most comprehensive data platform on the planet and we have done so through listening to our enterprise customer needs, creating innovative solutions and ensuring our data is as accurate as possible. As we continue to evolve our solution, here are the features we are focused on specifically. This blog post serves as an informative resource for companies looking for an all inclusive and affordable solution.
Data Enrichment:
Using the latest Lead411 API you are able to enrich and append our verified contact and company data to your own data set for enriching inbound leads or your current prospecting database with all of the data points below. https://api.lead411.com/docs/
Data Cleansing:
Using Lead411’s chrome extension, data append feature and API you are able to quickly append and cleanse your data within Salesforce or your own home grown CRM. Take your current dataset of contacts/companies and clean them up with our fresh companies and contacts.
List Building:
New advanced filters for Lead411’s List Building were added to the web application as well as the upgraded API. Here is a full list of all filters available;
Data Dashboards:
Upon logging into the Lead411 web application you will see a dashboard of our datasets and what has happened in the past 24 hours or week including how many company updates, people updates, news events broken down by funding, mergers, acquisitions, new hires, hiring plans, employment changes, etc.
Integrations:
Our chrome extension and our web application has built in integrations with some of the best sales enablement, crm and sales automation saas. Our chrome extension allows you to pull Lead411 data while you are browsing social sites and company websites, as well as append/enrich your Salesforce leads directly with Lead411 data. Other saas we integrate with include Outreach.io, Salesloft, MS Dynamics, Zoho, Insightly, SugarCRM, Highrise, Pipedrive, Keap, vTiger, Capsule, Nutshell, PipelineDeals, Close.io, SalesforceIQ, ZenDesk, PersistIQ, Hubspot, Quickmail.io, AgileCRM, Less Annoying CRM, Oracle, PCRecruiter, Freshsales and Salesfusion.
Market Intelligence:
Using Lead411 Intel you are able to gather Market insights using our competitive intelligence data, monitoring customer/account news events, and our TrackStar feature which gives you alerts on your accounts when someone at that account changes jobs. IN the screenshot you can see the red buttons mentioning Similar Companies(Competitors), branch locations, historical trends and job openings.
Reach – Automated Email/SMS Engagement:
Setup automated emails and/or SMS message campaigns, create custom templates, add contacts directly from the Lead411 platform from the advanced search or trigger results, track replies and opens, create tasks, follow up on social platforms, keep notes and more, all from our newest Lead411 feature inside of Lead411. No need to export to a third party email platform and no need to login to your existing CRM to track opportunities. You can set up Reach and save valuable time because your workflow is all within the Lead411 platform!
Statistics show that SMS/Texting for B2B outreach is on the rise and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon. More and more sales and marketing divisions are utilizing SMS to reach out to potential clients to boost pipelines, strengthen communications and move the bottom line. Over the Next 5-10 years SMS texting is predicted to grow continuously with no signs of slowing down.
Below is a collection of statistics from various studies that add evidence to SMS/Texting as a viable and consistent outreach tactic.
As of May 4th, 2019, Data.com is no longer. The company formerly known as Jigsaw was acquired by Salesforce in 2010 for 142M. Since 2010 the desire for more accurate data has forced crowd sourcing companies like Data.com to the way side. As a result, companies that verify data through multiple sources, (and do so in a frequent 2-3 month pattern) have become the preferred resource.
Many of Data.com’s customers had “points” or unused credits that are deemed useless as of May 4th, so Lead411 wants to help! As a result of the recent Sunset on Data.com, we are offering ex-Data.com customers special discounted pricing on all annual plans. Check out our Lead411 as a Replacement to Data.com Webinar and we would be happy to help you!
Our platform has all the advanced search functionality that data.com had including verified emails and direct mobile dials, but we also have some more amazing features like sales trigger data, the ability to track contacts when they leave with Trackstar, and we will be launching an email cadence tool in the near future.
Check out our Lead411 as a Replacement to Data.com Webinar for ex-Data.com users to learn more and get our best pricing.
The best sales people are those who listen, instead of dominating the conversation. You’ll discover the needs of your customer, dispel any concerns they have, and build a positive relationship that keeps people coming back to your company again and again. Ready to improve your sales with the simple act of listening? Here are a few tips to get your started.
Benefits of listening in business
Most customers buy because they have a need that your product fulfills. But pitching the product and going for the close as soon as possible leaves potential customers feeling pressured. Instead of doing all the talking, ask some good questions and listen to the answers. You’ll get these three amazing results.
Where do I start?
Ready to start listening? First, take a look in the mirror. Assess your sales technique and figure out how you can turn your statements into questions. Ask yourself how you’ll learn about your customer’s needs, and put your plan into action. Don’t let your sales drop because you’re not listening. Build a better business today by asking questions, listening to your customer’s needs, and getting them exactly what they want. Lead411 provides insight so you can be informed with the right conversation topics. It may be a recent funding, a new technology adoption or a new executive hire. Whatever the sales trigger, we have the platform to get you selling smarter to prospects that are open to a conversation.
Are you looking for the secret to sales success? It might be sitting right in front of you…literally! Pipedrive calls collaboration “arguably the most important factor you can tweak to improve your sales metrics”, and this sentiment appears to be echoed by experts and data throughout the industry. Collaboration is transforming the sales process in a way that benefits the team and the customer. When teams collaborate to align sales and marketing goals, salespeople are 56% more likely to be top performers. Here are 3 ways collaboration can help your sales team:
To snag a sale, salespeople often make promises to consumers, and sometimes this results in unmet expectations, which can ruin the sale. Collaborating priorities and realistic possibilities among teams reduces over-promising and cuts the chances of disappointed customers. Salespeople are able to communicate consumers demands and collaborating teams can plan accordingly, giving salespeople the advantage of making an informed promise that they can keep.
When teams create and work towards unified goals, it produces a win-win situation. When the individual teams meet goals that lends to the company’s overall goals, they are more likely to contribute to wins which will affect the success of the business rather than focusing on strictly personal incentive. When more members work together, overall goals are met more efficiently and with better results through creative solutions and team effort.
Trust is important to building positive relationships in every dynamic, including professionally. When team members operate transparently, sharing data and focusing on common goals it creates a climate of loyalty conducive to company growth and profitability. Collaborative teams are less likely to compete internally and more concerned with achieving success in every department. When team operate fluidly, they produce greater gains for everyone.
Lead intelligence platform captures job changes, tracks sales champions and mitigates risk associated with losing champions to new jobs
April 18, 2016 — BOULDER, CO. — Losing valuable sales champions to new roles or different companies can lead to customer churn and missed opportunities. Today, Lead411 announced the availability of TrackStar, an enhancement to its lead intelligence platform, which reduces that risk by notifying sales and marketing leaders of position and/or company changes associated with a contact.
“Our business was built on the belief that our customers need a more comprehensive view of their prospect and his business in order increase conversion rates, improve targeting and enhance their existing sales technology platforms,” said Tom Blue, Lead411, CEO. “TrackStar is a vital piece of the equation, shortening sales cycles for marketing and sales teams by enabling them to target champions with whom they’ve previously worked and providing them with the right information about their accounts, at the right time, to build the right relationships.”
Context, rather than simple data presentment is what Lead411 provides. Lead411’s lead intelligence platform that combines corporate news, contact data, technology understanding and other information to provide marketing and sales teams with a well-rounded view of the business and prospect. Lead411 is a SaaS-based solution that is available through GMail and Google’s Chrome extension. The information can also be integrated “at the click of a button” with more than 25 CRM/SaaS platforms and other sales tools. Knowledge is power. With Lead411, our customers put that power to work to impact their bottom line.
