A VC in Vacationland

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One of the big problems companies have, especially start ups, is distinguishing themselves in the marketplace.  For example, how can you best communicate the impact your technology can have in creating higher ROI and revenues for buyers?  If you do not succeed here, you can have the best technology in the world and few buyers will understand how it can make them successful.

The "old school" model was to, once you had a lead or a prospect, have the sales guys, perhaps assisted by marketing, develop some basic information on a company, its successes and its problems. The sales guy would then grab a pre sales or product management guru and head off to visit the company, hoping to make a sale based on a "few good facts". Not exactly the Marines hitting the beach…

There is an opportunity to create competitive advantage in your market by improving the access sales guys have to in-depth information on a company, its performance, the performance of the industry, the performance of its competitors, its executives(and who in your network might know them), etc, etc. The problem is that few collective sources exist that pull together information from the many necessary on-line data bases that contain all this information.  Until now…

Two new services are providing sales executives with new ways to gain much more relevant information on target companies, leading to significant advantages over less prepared competitors. Dow Jones Companies and Executives is a new offering aimed at sales professionals which combines numerous information sources to improve knowledge in the selling process. The Dow Jones solutions combines development of prospecting lists, territory management, alerts, business analysis, competitive data and executive profiles. It's not cheap, perhaps the same dollars as a marketing automation solution ($25K per year or so), but it can be invaluable if it helps close sales by having sales people be able to "customize" selling to solve specific customer problems. 

Decisionlink is another interesting start up in the business intelligence and networking space. They call their solution "Comparative Intelligence" and their web site describes the process as follows:

"Comparative Intelligence is the basis of your IQ. Comparative Intelligence tells you where companies have issues based on a comparative analysis of each company in context to their True Peer Group. By determining the issues at each of the 120,000 North American companies in our database you now have a entry point of value. This is appropriate for evaluating a solution you are bringing to market, researching the companies you want to sell, or determining your strategy and go-to-market plans. Capabilities include:

•  Analyzing your target markets, geographical territories, and individual companies across a spectrum of millions of data points with conclusions drawn for you.
• Contribution by not just you and your colleagues but by all users, for non-sensitive data, shortens your research time and provides immediate benefit even if you infrequently use the system.
• A library of sales assets and internal communication documents are at your disposal and prepopulated with content to maximize your effectiveness and minimize your effort.
• One click integration with your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system means no more double duty as a data entry clerk for your sales and marketing field teams."

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