At VST, we firmly believe that Summer is the perfect time to build and cleanse your business’ data. Read Louise Howson (Managing Director) and Andrew Smart’s (Founder of VST and now Solutions Director) take on why a proactive and well thought-out Q3 can go on to drive sales performance for the remainder of the year and will dramatically contribute to a great start to next year.
What does it mean to cleanse and build a database?
Andrew Smart kicked off the Q&A by giving us his definition of cleansing and building your business data:
“In simple terms, it’s verifying the information and contact data that your company holds on its database/crm, then working to fill in any potential gaps.
However, given each project and company is different to the next, each and every database is bespoke to that business’ needs. Hence the need to cleanse, build, and get the most out of your databases for a proactive and best-informed sales approach”. Louise Howson then went on to list some of the typical actions that VST carry out when building and cleansing data:
“Data cleansing can be anything from clarifying a decision maker’s contact details or checking an email address is still valid, to building a brand new database from scratch based on a target profile of a company or individual.
It can also be understanding if dormant accounts are still live or indeed in business, providing LinkedIn details and URLs for target customers, or checking postal addresses for mailshot campaigns.
It can also be about connecting businesses with the right people at their target companies, checking the contacts they have are indeed the right ‘decision makers’ (DM’s) at a business, or finding who previous DM’s have been replaced by”.
Why we find Summer productive and efficient:
Andrew Smart outlined why the typical business summertime (July and August) tend to be one of the best times to focus on and further build your business’ data:
“Many of the gatekeepers and PA’s/receptionists are often on annual leave at this time of the year, as are many other staff too. The reduced team means that other staff within the business (less trained at gate keeping) may be covering the phones more often. So, the usual roadblocks of a well trained/strong gatekeeper might not be there during the summer so the DM’s are easier to get through to, or the temporary gate keeper might give up the DM’s details (or put you through) more easily”.
Louise Howson added to this by detailing why Summer can be a great time to actually start a telemarketing and outbound calling campaign:
“Summer can also be a good time to start campaigns too, because when companies are less busy, senior business managers can sometimes find the time to talk to you when they previously might not have done.
It’s a great relationship building and cleansing period over Summer.”
Andrew Smart then closed the point by detailing the additional resource VST have access to throughout the Summer months:
“University and postgraduate students are proven researchers. They are excellent at data cleansing, database building and other forms of desktop research work. Our ongoing collaboration with students works perfectly, given its their long summer break as well, we have extra resource to tap into and help our clients”.
What do VST recommend?
Louise Howson spoke of how VST always recommends that clients give their databases a summer cleanse, especially when they want to ‘hit the ground running’ once business resumes as usual in September.
“Given it’s typically a quieter period, our clients really want to ‘hit the ground running’ come September as they may feel they’ve lost a couple of months’ momentum. So keeping the activity going (plus data cleansing) will definitely ensure your business will stay ahead of your competition.
We find this a really effective and efficient time to cleanse old databases (as well as build new ones) so they are fully researched, refreshed and prepped ready for Q4 campaigns”.
VST’s Example Process
Louise then went on to outline a typical data cleansing and campaign launch process:
- July: Cleanse and build on your existing database, or build a new targeted dataset.
- August: Start your sales campaign, calling those targeted contacts and sending a mailshot to the wider target.
- September: The campaign should start to land in early September, with late September seeing your first successes, to further inform the campaign and overarching approach.
The same can be applied to the post festive period, focusing on your data in December ready to hit the ground running in January after the Christmas break.
How can VST help with your data?
If you need any help cleansing an old list, building a database, or require some market research – we have a resource that you can turn on overnight and hire for as long as you need. From hours and days, to weeks at a time. Whereas from Sept onwards, our work tends to be more campaign based activity, so Summer really is the perfect time for this sort of activity.
Andrew Smart closed the conversation by mentioning VST’s typical data cleansing process and way of working – and how you can get a free quote for cleansing your data:
“If you want a quote to see how much it would be to cleanse your b2b database, simply send us 20 to 30 records and we’ll do a time in motion study free of charge. This will help us generate an accurate quote of how long it will take to cleanse the full database for you and whilst understanding how easy your DM’s are to contact”.
If the above service is of interest, contact our team of data experts today.
Are you a sales industry expert?
At VST, we’re open to collaboration from industry experts across the Sales and Telemarketing industry. If you wish to participate in a future Q&A, be sure to contact us on LinkedIn or through our contact us page.
And finally, don’t forget to connect with those involved in the Q&A on LinkedIn to continue the discussion:
