Using First-party Intent Data to Build Trust In B2B sales and marketing platform

The key to modern B2B sales and marketing insights is building a trusted relationship with buyers because people buy from the people they trust. However, building that trust has become more complicated in the current B2B sales and marketing landscape and requires sellers to leverage key insights offered by first-party intent data. Because critical B2B buying decisions are no longer made by just one person; they are made by multiple people.  

 

According to Gartner, the average buying group for a critical B2B technology or solution involves six to ten key decision-makers. These individuals, who are assigned by enterprises to procure next-generation solutions are referred to as buyer groups. Now, sales teams have to understand the buyer jouney group dynamics and gather actionable insights on each individual through intent data to navigate through the groups easily and build trust.  

 

Understanding the Buyer Group Dynamics 

  

The definition of personalization was limited to ‘understanding the persona of the buyer’ in the past. Marketers used to group buyers based on job title, seniority, and perhaps a few other demographics, and conclude that all people within the same group must have similar needs and motivations. This perspective is somewhat helpful in understanding business requirements but is limited in its scope and does not include first-party intent data.  

Today, sellers need to convince a group of people to win deals. Therefore, the traditional definition of personalization is no longer relevant. 

The individuals within a buying group are at different stages of the buying journey and can be further split into three categories. The first category of individuals is chartered with searching for solutions that can drive operational improvement and revenue growth. The second category thinks about how they can maximize the value out of these solutions. Finally, the third category makes the final call on the buying decisions. 

Knowing these individuals and understanding their key personality types and needs is critical for a B2B seller to understand and navigate the buying cycle and build trust with buyers.  If done well, deals move through the sales pipeline faster. Gartner research indicated that buyers who received highly relevant information to their jobs and interests by sellers were 2.8x likely to experience ease in buying and 3x more likely to make bigger purchases.  

And intent data related to these individuals enables sales teams to achieve exactly that; real-time, actionable data related to their personality types, needs, thinking patterns, and topics of interest. Sellers can then easily come up with individualized strategies and increase chances of engagement. 

  

What Is First-party Intent Data? 

 

First-party data is the data coming directly from the source - the person or the company. It is data related to the posts and topics that are being posted by the person or the company or the specific content that a person is clicking on.  There is an identifiable source and the data encapsulates exactly what they are talking about, their topics, and areas of interest.  

Unlike 3^rd-party intent data where data is aggregated based on information collected by an entity that does not have a direct relationship with the user, 1^st-party intent data does not involve conjecture or extrapolation of search results. 

This B2B buyer intent data includes the essential individual word clouds or the key tag lines that buyers are putting out there in the public domain. So, it is highly useful for sales teams to understand buyers’ needs and interests and carve out individualized strategies to engage them. 

  

How xiQ’s First-party Intent Data Can Strengthen Trust with Buyers 

  

Each of the individuals in the buying groups has a specific set of keywords, topics, and areas that they are posting about and/or reading. XiQ pulls this public domain data directly from the source to give sellers an indication of the topics of interest for that specific person, enabling a seller to engage that person more effectively or develop a campaign for them. 

It is important to note that first-party intent data is very different for individuals and companies. Because a company’s areas of interest and keywords are broader than the individual’s and more industry-specific. However, an individual might have very specific interests and needs.  

xiQ’s real-time 1^st party intent data segments individual intent data from company 1^st party intent data so sellers can distinguish the difference and have engage prospects at an individual level.  Here’s how xiQ’s first-party intent data can empower sellers to nurture prospects and achieve unprecedented engagement rates: 

 

 Understanding Relevant Topics and Keywords 

Using xiQ’s proprietary search engine, sales teams can easily access trending topics and keywords that an individual is interested in. xiQ traces an individual’s digital footprint and leverages this publicly available data to enable sellers to understand buyers’ needs and mindsets. 

These keywords and topics can be effective conversation starters or nurture topics for salespeople. Even if the sellers have never met the prospects, these keywords and topics can help them build that personal understanding to approach their prospects with confidence. 

Sales teams can get personality-driven insights and social media footprint related to a buyer in one place. It offers a unique view to sellers to learn in detail about each buyer. Sellers can then easily develop customized cadences and campaigns to improve engagement.