April 26, 2023

Have You and Data Had a Bad Break-Up?

Have a seat. Let’s chat.

Did data let you down in the past? Give you uncertainty? Make you feel like you wasted your time and money?

It’s important to know… You’re not alone.

Many, many people have put their faith in data, believing that it was their ticket to their next great success, only to come up empty at the end.

We know it’s tough, putting yourself out there again.

Trusting Big Data to come through for you.

But, you can’t let your past bad experiences stop you from working with data again.

It’s too important.

Let us help you understand how a good relationship with data should be…

Good Data = Better Results

Perhaps the biggest complaint we hear from companies about past data experiences is that the data they’ve purchased before “isn’t good.”

In fact, our founder, Bob Lytle, has heard it so much he’s already put together a fantastic blog on it: “The Leads Are Weak, John!

I can tell you, as a Big Data company, it is astonishing how often we hear this – that someone purchased a list in the past, and it “didn’t work.”

What makes it more astonishing is the absolute criticality of data-driven decision-making in 2023.

As companies become more and more sophisticated in utilizing data analytics to grow their businesses, those who are not will be increasingly left behind.

We’re data nerds, but, sure, as a consumer, I’m sure most of us would like to not be talking to our family about… waffles… and have breakfast brands start dropping ads into our social media that afternoon.

But, it’s the reality, and something all businesses have to deal with – especially small businesses.

The good news is that “good” data is more accessible than it’s ever been in history, and not just to the Amazons and Targets of the world.

At rel8ed, we’ve taken this reality head-on, with a focus on putting the power of Big Data into the hands of as many companies as possible, through our Diligence platform.

Now, combining our powerful algorithms with insights and intuition from our human data scientists, we believe our data is industry-best – and you can have access to it.

But, for you, the strength of the data starts with…

Knowing What You Need

For those not in tech, you might not be familiar with the acronym GIGO.

GIGO is short for “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” which means that in any application, the quality of the output depends entirely on the quality of the input.

In short, what that means is that, if data didn’t work for you in the past, the problem might’ve been caused at the outset.

One of the biggest pushbacks we get from people intimidated by data is that “it’s overwhelming,” or “there’s too much.”

The solution to overwhelming (and intimidating, let’s be frank) data is targeting.

If you know what you’re looking for up front, you’re going to have a much easier time of finding what you need – and using it once you find it.

Let me give you a recent example…

We have a client, a small business, who does parcel delivery, and is looking to grow his company, and asked for leads.

Just about every company out there sends parcels, right? Overwhelming.

So, what we did with this company was take the top five industries they’re already serving, and plugged them into our algorithms, with some additional criteria.

Then, rather that just choose a geographic region, we got very specific.

Since picking up parcels and delivering them is a time-intensive exercise (and time = $$), we narrowed down the list to keep him within 2 km of his current delivery routes.

Then, rel8ed’s data scientists went through and found the contacts that the client needed… In their case, not the main contact, but the CFO, purchasing manager, logistics manager… As close to the decision-maker on parcel shipping as they could find.

So… What have we done?

Rather than an insurmountable list of companies that may ship parcels in a region, between the algorithms and the data scientists, the rel8ed team delivered a finetune list of 143 companies that has become their lead list for the foreseeable future.

Now, what sets rel8ed apart is that we have a team of human data scientists being the AI algorithms… To help you do just that: Optimize, finetune and target your results to exactly what you need.

Having such a list will give you a head start for…

Backing Data Up with Real-World Strategy

Another reason that companies’ previous data purchases “haven’t worked” is because they didn’t have a strategy to make it work in the real world.

Let’s face it: a list is a list.

It may be the best list ever created, but if you don’t use it, it won’t do you much good.

That’s why, if you look at our blog, you’ll see that we dedicate a LOT of ink to encouraging people to utilize data and analytics to their fullest.

We believe if you spend money on a leads list, you need to squeeze every last drop of juice out of it, before deeming it to be “not good.”

First of all, we would encourage you not to buy a list until you know what you’re going to do with it.

And, also, to take it beyond handing it to your sales team for cold calls.

Some questions to ask yourself:

  • What are you planning on learning about the contacts on your newly-purchased list beyond their phone number, that will help you build a relationship with them?
  • How are you going to approach the contacts on your newly-purchased list? Will you be calling, e-mailing, knocking on their door, following them on LinkedIn, asking for referrals, curating content for them, tracking them down at chambers of commerce, or otherwise trying to connect?
  • And, very importantly, how will you capture any additional intel you may gather on the prospects on the list? That includes updated contact people, insights into their company (which rel8ed provides though Diligence), pet projects, possible referral partners, and on and on. This is critical!

In fact, for our clients, to support them doing so, our analytics process involves consistent improvement to the data.

We made the statement a few lines up – “a list is a list.”

That’s not actually true.

A list is a working document, that should expand and change and evolve and improve.

When you finally put a list to bed and order a new one, it should look very different from the one you ordered at the outset.

That will ensure that you’re using it to its fullest, and that your strategy is working.

***

There, now doesn’t that make you feel better?

Let’s get you back out there.

If you’re feeling up for a new conversation about data, and how it can work for to grow your business, or to make your next project or initiative a success, we’re more than happy to help show you the way.

In the end, you need to be making data-driven decisions. It’s essential.

Assume that your competitors are, and whoever’s doing it better will have the advantage in your market.

We can help YOU do it better.

Feeling pumped up yet?

Set up a Zoom call with us, and we’ll have you “back out there.”

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St. Catharines, ON L2R 3N2

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260 East Main St. #6000,
Rochester NY 14604

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Buffalo NY 14203

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