One of the things the G2MDealDoctor challenges software organisations on, is their GTM (Go-to-market) approach. They might say something like we’re targeting Banks in the US, or Insurers across the UK and they may say, we have some lists which sales are calling (sporadically) and a CRM full of (old) data which marketing are emailing. When I start to ask what is your ICP (Ideal Client Profile) or your TAM (Total Addressable Market). Things can often start to get sketchy.

I talk about being intentional. Don’t just work off old lists and data. Identify your TAM, based on your ICP and the region/country focus. Maybe its UK Banks over £1bn in Assets, maybe its retail and commercial banks but not Investment Banks, maybe it’s Life Insurers over 5bn in Gross Written Premiums. It is critical to get this right up front and as specific as possible. There is nothing more demoralising for the Demand Generation team, to bring in a lead and for the sales team to reject it because the firm is too small, an incorrect business model, wrong location etc.

I would argue if there are more than 100 accounts, you need to split the data sets into phases to ensure its manageable and you can be more effective with Google and LinkedIn Ad spend. In the US, region/states are a good way of creating a subset. In Europe perhaps country by country within a vertical. Now define the buyers/personas in those accounts you want to sell to: COO, CFO, Financial Controller etc.

Once you have your golden list of accounts and titles, then you can cross reference to data you hold in the existing CRM as a start point, forget buying data – it’s tempting as a fast forward option but in my experience unless you are looking for very generic titles, there is no getting around the need for systematic research, validation and build out of the contacts through LinkedIn/Zoominfo/Outreach.   

It’s critical to execute campaigns in a co-ordinated systematic fashion. Sales, Marketing, Lead Gen team all working lock-step. Outbound calling, emails, LinkedIn Ad campaigns. supporting content, Webinars, Events.

Intentional. Focused. Systematic = Successful outcomes.