If your company is struggling to keep on top of its ever-expanding database, then it’s far from alone. According to Forbes magazine, over 95% of businesses face the need to manage unstructured data, with more than 40% of businesses saying they must do so frequently.
Making sure your company’s B2B data is well maintained is paramount to business success. By following the 5 Cs of effective B2B data management, your unmanaged data can be turned into a hugely valuable asset to take your business to the next level.
Cleanse
Poor data is costly to your bottom line. Over time your business accumulates information about your clients and prospects. Gradually this information becomes outdated when changes occur such as new email addresses, job role changes, and company relocations. Your campaign results suffer as a consequence.
Data that is in poor health is also a drain on resources if your sales team are tasked to manually check and update entries, time that could be better spent on selling. Data cleansing brings your unchecked data back to life by removing old information and updating it with new. This means your email campaigns, sales calls, or mailed post reaches the intended target.
Classify
As a minimum, your data on organisations should be classified by their sector and type, and contacts by their function and seniority. This enables efficient segmentation and selection for targeted marketing. Further data enrichment such as organisation size, structure, turnover, and number of employees will add even more benefits.
Classifying also helps to identify duplicates and missing information which improves the efficiency of your data for marketing and sales purposes. Ensuring your data has standardised information entry helps keep your database structured.
Centralise
It is imperative to host data in one controlled central repository. This puts an end to multiple silos where duplicated, inaccurate records are widespread, data is unmanaged and can be accessed by unknowns which are all major risks for a serious security breach.
With a centralised system, your data is manageable. Centralising data significantly reduces data redundancy, minimising errors and simplifying access to information so that everyone is working with the same data set and to the same set of rules.
Continuity
Data decays on average by 20-30% per year. Staff turnover, opt-outs, unsubscribes, new subscribers, company acquisitions, insolvency and address changes all require automated and manual updates to guarantee your data remains fresh and an asset.
An up-to-date B2B database helps you to develop stronger relationships with your existing customers and allows you to study trends and changes in buyer behaviour. It gives you a deeper understanding of your current and potential clients and provides your sales and marketing teams with more accurate information to target the right audience.
Care
One data breach is one too many. Your vital company asset needs to be protected and policed from external and internal abuse and to ensure data protection laws, such as GDPR, are followed.
Making sure you have a solid structure that protects your customers’ information shows that you respect people’s privacy. Taking care of your B2B database in this way is a win-win situation for you and your customers and prospects. It shows that you are trustworthy and responsible with your clients’ personal information.
Fulfilling your data needs
Could your business data need refreshing? We provide data consultancy and data management services, ensuring your data strategy is robust and your data implementation is efficient and effective. Please contact us for an initial discussion and review of your data needs.
