One of the most substantial challenges for many enterprises is determining the right small businesses to onboard.
This can be especially difficult if you are selling products or services to small businesses due to a lack of accurate data. While companies often spend a lot of money to onboard potential customers, many are unqualified. Even those that are qualified will need to be verified using firmographic, compliance, and health data.
Targeting the right individuals is essential to business success, which leads to the need for accurate data.
This article will delve into what firmographic data is, the best methods to ensure that data is accurate, why accuracy is crucial, and more.
Once you finish, you’ll have all the information you need to keep your enterprise onboarding productive when using firmographic data.
What firmographic data is all about
Whereas demographics relate to information about individuals, firmographics offer this same kind of information about businesses, companies, and organizations. This data provides company-wide information as well as user-level data. Using firmographic data during the onboarding process is an excellent way for B2B enterprises to know who their potential customers are and whether they are the right business to onboard.
A few of the things that fall under firmographic data include:
- Decision makers for the organization
- Annual or quarterly revenue
- Locations of headquarters, parent companies, and more
- Number of employees hired by the brand
- Industry (or industries) that are represented by the company
Firmographic data is essential to have available for any enterprise that has customers that are small businesses. However, it isn’t the only form of data that is useful. It’s a simple place to start the onboarding process.
Why you should care about accurate firmographic data
As we move farther into the 2020s, personalization is essential for business onboarding. Based on the Salesforce State of Marketing report, about two-thirds of businesses consider switching to a new brand if there is no attempt to personalize communication from their current vendor.
About 85% of consumers and nearly as many company customers prefer to be treated like humans rather than just another number on a list of email addresses or phone numbers. Creating a personalized, customized onboarding experience as a brand is one of the best methods available to provide this.
When you have firmographic data available, you better understand what customers need. It can also help you more easily answer questions from prospective customers to help them understand what you offer and how it can help them solve their current challenges.
How to get accurate firmographic data
There are several methods to access firmographic data. Some information can be found on company websites and social media profiles on platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram. Business listings and directories provide information, and data intelligence tools can be used. Looking into the company and how past and current customers feel about them can be a huge help. However, it’s not always clear how accurate this data is, especially if it comes up with different information on unique sites and platforms.
There are many benefits of good firmographic data, many of which apply to the current customer desire for personalization. The biggest challenges there include getting quick insights, having sufficient data, and having only accurate data. Thankfully, there are some methods to enjoy all three of these things to provide potential customers with what they want.
While there are many data providers out there who promise accurate information, that doesn’t mean you can always trust them. Some will have information that is very old, inaccurate, or otherwise problematic for use.
When you use Markaaz’s Enterprise Services, you can leverage accurate business information for over 300 million global small businesses. It also provides small businesses the ability to update their own information on the Markaaz Dashboard, ensuring the information held in the Markaaz Directory is up-to-date and accurate.
Everything from credit score to business location, ownership data to a business address, compliance, and business health data is provided and can be accessed using the Markaaz Business Decisioning and Business Verification API Suites, designed to streamline enterprise onboarding flows.
Why accuracy in firmographic data is essential
There are many benefits to using accurate firmographic data, from having a greater body of knowledge to enjoying improved lead generation. Below are a few of the great benefits that you can reap when you have accurate firmographic data that you can trust.
Better company knowledge
Everything from information about when a company was founded to how it’s doing right now is yours with the use of accurate firmographic data. This kind of information can help you decide how to nurture a potential customer or someone you want to invest in as a part of your brand. There are tons of reasons that this knowledge will come in handy for enterprise businesses.
When you have relevant and useful firmographic data, it helps you better understand specific marketplaces and industries. You can dig through data to get a better view of what separates one company from the next.
Excellent onboarding intelligence
With accurate firmographic data, it’s much easier for onboarding teams to know whether a business is a good prospect for its services. Important data about things like purchasing power and other preferences are available and can be used along with data about the size of the company, present standing, and more.
Better customer service and marketing
When you have more information about a company, it also makes it easier to give them what they desire. Beyond that, having great firmographic data helps you offer top-quality customer service. This is essential for acquiring and keeping all of your customers.
As an example, knowing the geographical location of a customer gives insight into local traditions and typical opening hours. This lets you determine the best way to communicate with each customer on an individual basis. This kind of personalization may not always be noticed but is greatly appreciated when it is.
Improved lead generation
For businesses that sell to other companies, firmographic data is essential for lead generation. It can be used to quickly segment that market and sort companies into different groups of potential clients. This process alone leads to a better form of lead generation.
Since you have this data available, you can see who the best leads are and who might not be for your onboarding flows. You can also rate them based on their characteristics, which makes sure that the efforts you focus on are effective and the most likely to help your business grow and succeed.
Final thoughts
When you work with Markaaz’s Enterprise Services, firmographic data accuracy will not ever need to be a concern for your company again. Our data is verified to ensure top accuracy whenever you need it. We offer firmographic data on over 300 million small businesses across the globe. Get the data you need to create the onboarding experience that customers want.
Are you ready to reap the benefits of accurate firmographic data? Reach out to us today and get started. We can answer any questions you have and get you set up with the tools you need to succeed. Our team of experts is here to provide support for any issues you may have, and our customer service team is available 24/7 to assist you with any questions or concerns that you may have. We understand that your success is our success, and we are dedicated to helping you succeed in any way we can.
With Markaaz’s Enterprise Services, you can rest assured that the firmographic data leveraged by our API Suites is accurate and up-to-date, giving you the peace of mind you need to make your onboarding process as smooth as possible. Start reaping the benefits of accurate firmographic data today – reach out to us and get started.