SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPR€¦ · SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPR As sales, marketing or business...

SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPRMAXIMISING THE OPPORTUNITIES

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have seen and heard lots about the forthcoming introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): the largest change in data legislation in the last 20 years. GDPR, which will come into force on May 25th, is about standardising current wide ranging EU data directives, to provide a single best practice approach for data handling and compliance.

The goal is to strengthen the individual’s rights by creating better transparency and control over all personal data (i.e. any information that can be used to directly or indirectly identify them) they share with companies.

As a B2B sales, relationship management or business development professional operating in the UK and/or Europe, you will be affected. It will certainly require you to review how you collect, store, and use customer data. It has been estimated that over 60% of businesses have still not started preparing for GDPR compliance, a trend that could continue into 2019 according to Gartner.

For sales, marketing and business development functions the impact could be that your mailing list or CRM database shrinks by up to 60% overnight, or worse that you leave yourself exposed to vast fines for non-compliance. The penalties under the GDPR could be up to €20 million, or 4% of your organisation’s annual turnover - whichever is greater.

But there is good news…

INTRODUCTION

If handled the right way GDPR regulation will allow sellers, business development teams and marketers to strengthen their relationships with customers.

Through following the steps in this guide, you’ll have cleaner, richer data, and more genuine relationships, with the result being more targeted messaging, higher and more valuable engagement, and most importantly a rare advantage over less prepared competitors.

IN THIS GUIDE WE WILL:

• highlight the key ways in which GDPR will impact sales, business development and marketing functions

• deliver guidance on what you need to do to prepare in the short-term

• explore what the post-GDPR world looks like for business intelligence, sales prospecting, customer engagement and marketing campaigns

• look at the limitations of CRM and LinkedIn Sales Navigator as stand-alone solutions

• demonstrate how Artesian can assist you in embracing GDPR and maximising the opportunities it presents at each stage in the sales funnel

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SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPR

As sales, marketing or business development professionals, you understand the importance of data driven strategies.

Your business has no doubt invested heavily in marketing automation tools, CRM solutions, and analytics technologies to improve how you collect, manage and leverage data – all so that you can understand and serve your customers better.

Remarkably, as many as 41% of sales and marketing professionals don’t fully understand GDPR regulations, and the importance of getting it right when it comes to the use of customer data.

Here are the seven key GDPR takeaways you need right now:

1. RIGHT TO ACCESS: Individuals have a right to find out what personal data is being stored and processed, where, and by whom. 2. RIGHT TO ERASURE: Customers have the ‘right to be forgotten’ meaning they can request that your business deletes their personal data.

3. DATA PORTABILITY: Customers will be able to request access to their data and have the right to transfer it, in a similar way to switching energy providers.

1SHORT-TERM GDPR IMPLICATIONSFor B2B Sales, Business Development and Marketing.

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4. RIGHT TO CONSENT: Customers must be asked to opt-in rather than opt-out when it comes to use of their data. However, it’s worth noting that you can continue to store, process and contact customers if you can demonstrate it’s necessary for the performance of a contract, for compliance, to protect vital interests/public interests, or importantly if you can demonstrate legitimate interest.

5. DATA BREACH NOTIFICATION: In the event of data loss or cyber-attack you must inform impacted customers within 72 hours of discovering the breach.

6. PRIVACY BY DESIGN: You must ensure that personal data is held securely and that its ‘absolutely necessary for the completion of duties’. 7. DATA PROTECTION OFFICERS AND REGISTRATION: You may need to appoint a data protection officer, and register with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

What can you do to prepare in the short-term?

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Here’s our quick checklist to keep you ahead of the new regulations:

GET INFORMED: Make sure all commercial teams are fully aware of the GDPR implications, and why it’s important for both your business and your customer relationships.

GET AUDITING: Review all personal data you hold to determine whether it falls within the guidelines. Identify where it came from, how it was collected, your legal basis for processing it, who has access to it, and who you share it with.

GET PERSONAL: Undertake a privacy impact assessment on all systems and processes. Make sure you understand the rights your customers will have and document how you’ll address and action them.

GET CONTINGENCY PLANNING: Put measures in place to detect, manage, investigate and report on personal data breaches.

GET CONSENT READY: Review how you obtain and record consent for data processing, and identify the measures you need to put in place to ensure you can demonstrate the six lawful processing principles mentioned above.

GET CONTENT: Building prospect lists and generating leads will become more difficult, so start thinking about your inbound strategy and the content you need to put out there in order to attract customers through different stages of the sales cycle.

Having valuable content which customers and prospects can download and opt-in to will be essential.

GET SOCIAL: Make sure everything you do is amplified with social media to draw customers in and make them want to give you their consent.

GET PRIVATE: Implement “privacy by design” and “privacy by default” in the design of new products, and assess whether existing products meet GDPR standards – before you try to sell or market them.

BUILDING PROSPECT LISTS AND GENERATING LEADS WILL BECOME MORE DIFFICULT, SO START THINKING ABOUT INBOUND STRATEGY...

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2So far the points we’ve raised are pretty high level, so how do they translate into day-to-day sales, marketing and business development activities once GDPR is in force?

Essentially there are three key things you need to know when it comes to post-GDPR activities:

1. PERMISSION SALES AND MARKETING – OPT-IN RATHER THAN OPT-OUT: It will no longer be acceptable to assume that any customer that has previously welcomed sales or marketing communications (even if they have overtly requested to receive blog updates or downloaded your latest whitepaper) still wishes to remain on your mailing list.

The key to consent is trust. Sales and marketing campaigns must be respectful of customer data, they must demonstrate that you’re not being self-serving in your request for consent, but that you have a legitimate interest or specific reason to help them achieve their aims.

Your campaigns must demonstrate that you’re informed about their needs, and that you’re contacting them in a manner and via a channel that is best suited to them.

Only then will you encourage them to consciously consent to sharing their data with you, and earn their trust that you’re doing so in a GDPR compliant way.

DAY TO DAY LIFEPOST-GDPRSales Prospecting and Engagement, Marketing Communications, and Business Development Activities post-GDPR.

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TOP TAKEAWAY: Get your permission strategy straight and then, and only then ask customers to check an ‘opt-in’ box on any form. ‘Double opt-in’ is best practice. Even if a customer hits yes, confirm opt-in with a follow up email and get them to confirm again – tough on sales and marketing activities but better for long term relationships and engagement.

2. PERMISSION TO INVITE - EVENTS AND CONFERENCES: In the same way as permission sales and marketing, when compiling a list of potential event/conference attendees you will need to obtain opt-in consent.

Even if they attended the stand at your last conference and handed you their business card, came to your last networking lunch, or logged into a recent webinar, you will need to prove that they actively consented to be informed of future events. TOP TAKEAWAY: After every trade show or event, follow up every lead with an opt-in request so you have documented evidence not just a business card and verbal consent.

3. PERMISSION TO MONITOR - CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: The many complex GDPR requirements will have a significant impact on your CRM tools and systems, as well as the capability of your business to manage information correctly. For example, just as they have the right to opt-in rather than opt-out, customers also have the right to request a copy of the data you hold on them, as well as the right to amend this data or even to be deleted completely – can your CRM tools deliver this capability?

You will need to have clear visibility of ‘opt-in’ consent in your CRM tools alongside any customer data held.

GDPR also includes rules limiting the extent and type of data you can hold and the length of time you can reasonably hold it – again this will be need to be supported and managed through your CRM.

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Most CRM providers such as Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce have invested heavily in enhancements to their software to help you meet the regulations, but it is vital you speak to your account manager to understand what they have done, and undertake any training necessary to ensure you are using CRM software correctly.

The same is true of any CRM integration such as Artesian or LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

TOP TAKEAWAY: Audit any CRM suppliers and CRM integrations to ensure that they too are GDPR-ready, and have the appropriate measures in place pre-25th May to store, process, and integrate data with your business appropriately.

Additionally, check that you can tailor permissions, and that data and customer intelligence feeds can be removed or filtered.

IT'S NOT DOOMSDAY JUST YETHaving read all of the above, you may be thinking the way you do business will never be the same again. If you follow the GDPR by the letter of the law, you could be mistaken for thinking you can't ever contact a customer or prospect again unless they have told you to do so - essentially killing off all outbound sales activities in one fell swoop.

As mentioned previously, there are 6 grounds for processing data. While consent is one of these, in a B2B context, legitimate interest will also be commonly used as grounds for collecting, storing and acting on customer data post-GDPR.

Do your research to check that your activities and specific situation are covered. On a general basis, if you are communicating with the right stakeholder(s) about a product or service that they might genuinely have a need for, you should be covered.

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POTENTIAL BENEFITS…As the saying goes, if you focus on problems you’ll have more problems, but if you focus on possibilities you’ll have more opportunities. Start looking at the opportunities afforded by GDPR, rather than the intimidating legislation and consequences.

GDPR is in fact a golden opportunity – rather than setting sales, marketing and business development back, it allows you to do what you actually do best - to create targeted, relevant and timely strategies and campaigns for customers and prospects who are genuinely engaged with your brand.

Turning the legislation to your advantage:

1. STRONGER UNDERSTANDINGInstead of a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ option when asking customers about data, provide them with a range of options (such as product updates, newsletters, deals, education) to really identify and understand what they’re interested in, and gain deeper insight into their preferences.

2. DEEPER RELATIONSHIPSPeople do business with people they like and trust. GDPR is an enabler for you to undertake sales, marketing and business development activities the right way.

Focus on building trust within everything you do - your product/service, your proposition and how you communicate. If you can demonstrate how you're addressing customer needs and solving their problems, you'll create far more effective engagements and deeper relationships.

If your engagements are focused on your own agenda - quarterly targets, lack of pipeline or any other self serving metric - then you will set yourself up for failure. People don't like to be sold to, so if you can engage with them honestly and truthfully about how you can help them, you will likely have far greater success.

3. SUCCESSFUL ENGAGEMENT:Following the steps in chapter 1, you’ll have cleaner, richer data upon which to build more targeted and personalised sales and marketing campaigns. This will result in higher open rates and click throughs, higher levels of engagement, and ultimately more valuable opportunities

The best and most resourceful business leaders are looking at the opportunity and seeing the bigger picture in terms of delving deeper into the needs of their prospects and customers.

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3CAPTURE AND USE DATA IN A SMARTER WAYGDPR reinforces the importance of how, where and why data is captured and used, as well as the cost of out-of-date data.

Let’s look at two key ways sellers, marketers and relationship management professionals capture data:

DELIVERING PERSONALISED STRATEGIES POST-GDPRSo GDPR is set to herald a new era of customer data, and an opportunity for forward thinking organisations to deliver leaner, cleaner data-driven strategies. The key thing that will ultimately deliver success post-GDPR is data quality.

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By solely relying on your own data held within your CRM solution, you can be more confident that you’re meeting the regulations.

But in doing so you will limit the range of data and insight needed to deliver truly personalised strategies. Unwise at a time when customer intimacy is high on the agenda.

CRM solutions are only ever as good as the data that’s entered into them - largely manually, by time-pressured sales, marketing and relationship management professionals.

The data is static, rather than dynamic, and decays quickly, raising a significant GDPR issue as the regulation stipulates personal data must be accurate and kept up to date.

LIMITATIONS• GDPR allows the processing of personal data for sales and marketing purposes, if you can demonstrate legitimate interest.

But if data is left to become inaccurate or out of date claiming legitimate interest will become increasingly more difficult.

• Time spent just keeping up-to-date with existing customer data post-GDPR will impact negatively on productivity, limit ability to respond to real-time customer news, and increase the chance that valuable opportunities are missed.

• Relying solely on own-data will not allow you to build a complete 360° view of the business’s ecosystem, get a handle on real-time, contextualised customer insight, respond immediately to live customer dynamics, or monitor market trends and customer sentiments that can be plugged into open opportunities.

CRM

YOUR CRM DATA IS STATIC, RATHER THAN DYNAMIC AND DECAYS BY 5% EVERY MONTH

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There has been a lot of talk recently about LinkedIn, and more specifically LinkedIn Sales Navigator, as the best possible solution for prospecting and delivering personalised sales and business development engagements post-GDPR.

LinkedIn is a reputable source after all, and people join LinkedIn with the expectation that others will view their data and engage with them via messaging and InMail, therefore this kind of activity is essentially not impacted by GDPR. LinkedIn will tell you that you can continue to use the platform and premium services such as Sales Navigator and InMail without worrying about GDPR. Furthermore that a very important part of GDPR preparation for sales, marketing and business development professionals is to boost your LinkedIn connections.

Now LinkedIn and Sales Navigator are fantastic tools, and whilst all of the above is true, isn’t

reliance on one data source only marginally better than relying on your own internal data?

Like all great products, LinkedIn has limitations, some by design, and some by the nature of the data that feeds it. LinkedIn specialise in people - who are the best people to talk to, who are they connected with etc. This information is self-declared, and LinkedIn do a world class job of harnessing the value within this data.

But it’s curated, and doesn’t deliver wider organisational and market influences, insights and behaviours. The key to true customer intimacy and deeper engagement is having something contextual to talk about, something beyond what they have already shared.

The most useful gems for lasting relationships are out there on the unstructured wider Internet, in news, trade publications, blogs and across a wide range of social media platforms.

LINKEDIN SALES NAVIGATOR

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Post-GDPR when your prospect list has shrunk it may appear that LinkedIn holds the answer – connections breed connections and all that - and if you’re a premium Sales Navigator subscriber then you may also be getting automated lead suggestions and triggers.

But just connecting with someone new doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be interested in engaging, it certainly doesn’t guarantee their opt-in. Value is the key here, you need to demonstrate that you are worthy of their attention, that you’re not simply sending them a connection request, but instead an icebreaker that contains a valuable nugget of insight and demonstrates that there’s value in connecting, and something to be gained by engaging with you.

Using tools to navigate your way towards customers and prospects is not the same as using them to direct customers and prospects towards you – something you will need to do a lot more of post-GDPR!

Post-GDPR success isn’t just about finding but being found – if a prospect finds you and is interested in you, you’ll be more likely to gain their consent and this requires a multi-channel approach.

Don’t let the fear of non-compliance limit your activities to just one primary channel, spread the word in as many ways possible.

InMail offers you the opportunity to engage with prospects and decision makers, even if you don’t have their email address. But is this really all you can do to demonstrate trustworthy and value driven behaviour?

An InMail could still be considered spam and unrequested if used incorrectly. It will be quickly cast aside and you run the risk of being branded a nuisance, reducing not only the chance of a connection, but also developing a genuine relationship. Earn the right for a prospect to engage and share information by establishing credibility and demonstrating thought leadership using insight to drive genuine value-driven connections.

JUST CONNECTING WITH SOMEONE NEW DOESN’T GUARANTEE THAT THEY’LL BE INTERESTED IN ENGAGING, IT CERTAINLY DOESN’T GUARANTEE THEIR OPT-IN.

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In summary, GDPR reinforces the importance of using reputable third party business intelligence sources that are not only compliant with the regulations, but can also demonstrate consistent data capture across multiple channels and best practice in terms of data quality and validation.

Something the Chartered Institute of Marketing agrees with:

So how can Artesian help?...

“Now is the ideal time to invest in new data analytics tools – perhaps even those with predictive analysis and artificial intelligence (AI). By populating these tools with only the most important, useful and legally compliant data, organisations will be able to operate in a far smarter manner than anything that has gone before.”

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MARKETING

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GDPR will herald a new era, a more transparent data economy. And we believe that ultimately it will be a good thing. After all, according to Celerity, some 42% of B2B sellers and marketers believe that a lack of quality data is the single biggest barrier to lead generation.

GDPR reinforces the importance of building strong, sustainable relationships with customers, and that with less data to use you will need to be smarter about how and where you capture data from.

We also understand the importance of ensuring that the data you have access to is up-to-date, to assist with compliance and demonstrate legitimate interest.

Likewise, data must also offer the ability to uncover new opportunities in order to show the customer that you understand their evolving needs, can deliver value, and nurture relationships in a way that guarantees continued opt-in to sales, marketing and business development efforts.

HOW ARTESIAN CAN HELP POST-GDPR BY COMPLEMENTING CRM AND LINKEDIN In short to drive more value from LinkedIn, find the “who” and then use Artesian for the “why” and the “how”.

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SOCIAL PROSPECTING THROUGH THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLEWe are all familiar with the Sales Funnel, but if you think about the entire duration of your relationship with a customer, it is more like an hourglass:

LinkedIn is particularly useful at the top of the funnel, but because its data doesn’t move on very often, its impact tends to diminish over time. Artesian fills this gap.

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Here’s how you can use both services throughout the customer lifecycle:

TOP OF THE FUNNELArtesian: Build lists of prospect companies with the right corporate profile.

Artesian: Listen for ‘sales triggers’ – leading indicators of a need for your product or service.

LinkedIn: Use advanced search (free) or Lead Builder (Sales Navigator) to identify the best people to talk to.

DURING THE SALES CYCLEArtesian: Updates when you want them, with your choice of filters.

Artesian: Engagement templates to make insights easy to share, whether via email, LinkedIn, Twitter or CRM.

Artesian: Before you contact a company, check out their Company dashboard to see News, Social Media, Company Data, People, Market Info, etc.

Artesian: Access insights relating to your upcoming meetings on your mobile device.

LinkedIn: Watch out for people posting content or changing roles.

LinkedIn: Check out company shares for the corporate view.

POST-SALE (SERVICING/ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT)Artesian: As above; but focus on the most relevant information (e.g. only ask for risk or relationship triggers, to keep the relationship warm and flag any potential concerns).

Artesian: Be alerted to upselling opportunities e.g. Expansion, Mergers, etc.

LinkedIn: Watch out for new joiners or people moving on.

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Top management tips on how using Artesian can assist in effective sales, relationship management and business development post-GDPR and enhance the use of CRM and LinkedIn:

1. UNCOVER THE DATA AND INSIGHT THAT WILL DRIVE CUSTOMER CENTRIC ACTIVITIES - Get beyond the limitations of self-declared data, and static CRM data. Artesian will deliver a constant supply of relevant and validated insights from both structured and unstructured data sources across the internet, news and social media that will inform all sales, marketing and business development activities – greater personalisation, improved engagement, enhanced demonstration of value – in order to gain initial and on-going opt-in.

2. DEMONSTRATE LEGITIMATE INTEREST - Build a 360° view of the customer world. Understand their immediate and future needs, the problems they need to solve, and the wider internal and market influences affecting customer and prospects by harnessing Artesian to demonstrate how your product or service addresses their current needs and problems.

3. TRACK BUYING SIGNALS AND IDENTIFY TRIGGER EVENTS WITH CONFIDENCE - Supplement Sales Navigator triggers and target lists by using tools to hone in the type of insights you want to receive (also demonstrating legitimate interest) such as expansion news, management changes, legislative, regulatory, compliance and risk management changes and triggers, acquisitions etc. 4. IMPROVE INBOUND MARKETING - Make yourself attractive and compel connections by harnessing the golden nuggets of insight Artesian delivers to ensure you always having something new to talk about, that you’re sharing relevant content, and publishing thought leadership posts.

5. BUILD VALUE INTO ENGAGEMENT - Social prospecting doesn’t stop after the first engagement. Build value into InMail and emails by having contextual reasons to reach out – ready made research, door openers and engagement topics. The result will be higher open rates, click throughs, opt-ins and improved levels of engagement.

POST-GDPR TACTICS

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6. GO BEYOND SIMPLY CONNECTING - Augment connection requests and build value into icebreakers by harnessing a ready-made stream of insight and contextual anecdotes.

7. GET BETTER AT PREDICTING CUSTOMER NEEDS - Harness the power to determine in advance what a customer needs, and what product or service will have the greatest impact. Use Artesian to identify patterns of event types, market challenges and new opportunities. 8. BUILD VALUE INTO NURTURE CAMPAIGNS - Keep that loyal band of customers happy, and more importantly consistently opting-in by using Artesian’s advanced intelligence to drive deeper understanding, demonstrate contextual relevance, and build value into marketing campaigns at all stages in the funnel.

9. AUGMENT REAL WORLD ACTIVITIES - Integrate Artesian with your calendar to see the latest insights about customers and prospects you’re meeting with – marshal exactly the right facts at the right time (up-to-the minute insights about everyone sitting around the table, their sentiments and expectations) to capture and hold the attention of the room and ensure that when they leave they tick that opt-in box.

The best and most resourceful business leaders are looking at the GDPR opportunity and seeing the bigger picture in terms of delving deeper into the needs of their prospects and customers.

Don’t just be compliant, use Artesian to go beyond - tackle the data quality challenge by having access to richer data from a wide range of sources (both structured and unstructured) that will strengthen relationships, improve engagement and communications in all stages of the sales funnel, and build trust.

LET ARTESIAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE SALES, MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXCELLENCE POST-GDPR.

ABOUT ARTESIAN

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF B2B SALESArtesian is a powerful AI driven service that equips client facing teams with the resources they need to succeed in a modern commercial environment.

Apps that drive action. MI that measures impact. A service that inspires and coaches. Artesian provides the data, real-time insight and context needed to find customers, create meaningful engagements, sell more and create long-lasting business relationships.

HOW IT WORKSWith the use of AI technology layered on top of company information, data and news, Artesian helps you uncover opportunities, build relationships and accelerate deals.

Artesian continually scans millions of online sources for data on markets, organisations, individuals and topics, and uses sophisticated algorithms to filter and transform that information into commercially valuable insights.

With Artesian, you can track your customers, prospects, competitors and partners; spot and capitalise on business opportunities; and manage risks in your pipeline.

Artesian helps drive customer alignment, credibility, competitiveness and client satisfaction.

artesian.ai

UKArtesian HouseGazelle Close

WinnershRG41 5QS

0330 321 0101

[email protected]

http://artesian.ai

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SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPR€¦ · SALES PROSPECTING POST-GDPR As sales, marketing or business...

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