Data provider selection depends on revenue team collaboration

When it comes to defining a data strategy, the starting point is planning (client access required), which encompasses governance, compliance and technology. This in turn involves the critical task of selecting the right data providers to empower go-to-market strategy. The success of this selection process is determined by the clarity of requirements, flexibility of providers’ selection tools, and the granularity of attributes available in source databases. This means considering what the data is supposed to accomplish, determining relevant personas, and identifying where to find applicable data. Many of the issues that arise with data provider selection stem from a lack of alignment between the goals and plans of marketing and sales. The development of coherent and strategic plans across the revenue ecosystem avoids this tendency and drives a more thoughtful and long-term approach to data acquisition.

Marketing and sales plans are further sharpened when brought together under a unified revenue plan that seeks to integrate and align fiscal revenue planning. The commitments by revenue functions to commercial objectives places further focus on how they will be achieved, and the necessary coordination required. This assessment is instrumental in guiding the selection of data providers capable of pinpointing the essential accounts, decision-makers, and buying signals that are critical for successful go-to-market execution. In our latest report on best practices for choosing data providers (client access required), Brett Kahnke and I discuss how to select the right partner. How though, should marketing and sales work together to make this decision?

Drive coordination, expertise, and alignment to choose the right data provider

Bringing the revenue ecosystem together to choose a data provider (or any other kind of decision, in fact) requires strong coordination across individual teams. This necessitates the deep involvement of operations teams to prevent misalignment, unnecessary expenditure, and extended timelines when selecting data providers. Leaders of operations teams have a number of ways to go about this:

• Evaluate the Revops operating model. Revops leaders must maintain a broad perspective, enabling them to effectively orchestrate delivery of technology, data, process, and measurement across the revenue ecosystem. An effective operating model transcends rigid structures and reporting lines, focusing instead on stakeholder needs, value delivery, capabilities, leadership, and governance. This model lays the groundwork for making informed decisions about data provider selection.
• Introduce a Data Center of Excellence (CoE). This is a dedicated team of data analysts, scientists, and other experts committed to leveraging data and analytics to spur growth and enhance business performance. Benefits include ensuring alignment with business objectives, improving decision-making, enhancing collaboration, and increasing efficiency by streamlining data management processes. A Data Center of Excellence emphasizes the importance of driving best practices in data selection and governance while promoting a data-driven culture.
• Identify the right marketing and sales alignment paradigm. Recent Forrester research has uncovered an alarming disconnect between the perception and reality of alignment across the revenue ecosystem. The pressures facing marketing and sales teams face are only intensifying, raising the risk that this misalignment will worsen. Addressing this challenge entails identifying the most suitable alignment paradigm for a business and working intentionally to apply it. Revops must play a role in this endeavour, together with wider marketing and sales leadership, laying the groundwork for data provider selection.

Choose a data provider is just like choosing new technology

The process of choosing a data provider mirrors that of adopting new technology. It necessitates careful consideration of how the provider fits into the technology roadmap and a thorough evaluation of the data itself. Pay close attention to the solutions under assessment, carefully plan the selection and implementation process, and prepare rigorously for how the chosen provider is adopted. And don’t forget, this approach applies equally to the selection of an individual data provider as to an over-arching data strategy, involving the entire revenue ecosystem. Time to get planning!