Before we get into the “how” of things in this article, it’s important to first talk about the “what”.
What are technographics or technographic data?
Everyone in the business world has been using demographic (titles of the contact, contact information, social media handles, etc.) and firmographic (company size, product/service, industry, revenue, location, etc.) data for a long, long time in order to boost their sales by using these two types of data. In today’s world, technology that a company is using for its business is equally important, and researching it can give you an edge over competitors who are not doing so. Plainly put, technographic data lets you know what kind of tools your prospect is using, for how long they have been using them, to what extent, and how efficiently. Much like demographic and firmographic data, technographic data is very important for B2B companies that are looking to increase their revenue.
Who, at your company, can benefit from technographic data?
Bluntly put, everybody. If we talk in terms of the marketing to sales handover and sales to customer success handover, technographics can play a large role here. Your marketing team can use the data about the people who use your competitors’ products or services and then create tailored marketing campaigns aimed at these prospects across various channels. Generating awareness about what your company has to offer is perfect for the sales team as they can personalize their sales pitch in accordance with the technology your prospect is using, thus increasing your chance of closing a sale exponentially. Using a CRM to make the handover of this data should become a priority as making this process as smooth as possible also adds benefits to the whole process. Your customer success team can then add an additional step in the analysis of this data by identifying possible risks ahead of time. Keeping a close eye on the target clients’ activities and notifying relevant personnel when the target client is using a competitor’s product or service can help you out a great deal. Additionally, they can keep track of purchasing signs of your target client in order to segment the ones to whom you can upsell.
How to get ahold of technographic data?
All this talk about what it is and who can benefit from it without mentioning how to actually get it would be a shame. There are numerous ways you can go about collecting this precious data.
1. Conducting customer surveys
The first method of obtaining the data you need also happens to be the riskiest. As this is a very old method of gathering such data there is a chance that it will be inefficient in terms of scalability. Why is that so? Well, cold calling and email surveys can be an efficient way to collect data, but it’s also a very tiresome method for your targets and in some cases, companies are just not interested in sharing their info in this way. There is also a chance of hurting your brand image by utilizing this method or simply not getting any answers and wasting your time and money. Tread lightly if you opt for this method.
2. Data scraping
This method involves the extraction of data from a website in order to identify the kind of technology a company may be using. It’s vastly better than a survey but there is a level of unreliability in this method as well. Firstly, only specific types of software leave a trail of their usage in a website’s source code. Secondly, websites undergo changes often and the source code might not reflect the technology used in your target’s operations. Data scraping can offer some insight into technographics but there is a chance of that data being unreliable.
3. Data providers and services
Quite possibly your safest and most precise way of getting ahold of technographic and tech stack data. There is an abundance of companies that provide this service, I’ll name only a few: Slintel, Uplead, BuiltWith, Datanyze, SimilarTech, Wappalyzer, and many many more. While these data providers offer precise and up-to-date data, keep in mind that, unlike data scraping and surveys, these services come at a hefty cost depending on the data provider you opt for. But that’s the tradeoff, you lose the risk of damaging your brand image or getting unreliable data by making a commitment to one of these data providers. Now which one you will use, depends on your needs and your budget, but be wary as these services are not cheap.
How to use technographics in your sales process
1. Improved targeted prospecting
Technographics can greatly improve your buyer persona dataset, as it enables your sales team to identify beforehand any competitors that are being used by our prospect. This will naturally allow them to present their case to the prospect in a way that showcases your products or services strength in comparison to your competitor.
2. Predicting purchase patterns
Obtaining technographic data on your potential prospect can also be used to predict their budget and the possibility of them committing to new technologies. If a company has already committed to a few services can be an indicator that their budget can accommodate your services, or it might be a sign that they're doing trials on some new platforms, which could help you identify their needs and make your sales pitch more appealing to them.
3. Tailored Messaging
Personalized messages can be made using this data when contacting a prospect in order to increase your chances of closing your sale. If for instance, your prospect is using a certain technology, and what you have to offer can be integrated with said technology, your message can contain this bit of information and pique the interest of your prospect. Your sales team can use technographics in this way to reduce conversion windows because your message directly appeals to your prospects' needs and existing technologies.
4. Better target audience identification
While technographic data can be used to identify your target audience in a more efficient way and make a sales pitch to them based on the specific technology used by your prospect, it can also be used to identify companies and people that you should avoid and not waste time and effort on as they won’t be interested in what you have to offer. Incorporating technographic data into your ideal customer profile allows you to create a more accurate representation of your target audience
5. Improved ROI for Account-Based Marketing
If your team is struggling with ABM strategies due to a lack of data on your prospects, technographics can be used to bridge this gap and provide relevant data from the very beginning. This allows your sales team to do the following:
Engage with the right target prospect based on their technology buying habits.
Create relevant content for their prospect.
Create custom personalized offers to undercut and overdeliver than their current solution or competitors.
Understand the level of complexity of their technology stack.
A sales team using technographics can identify the right opportunities with every ABM campaign based on their prospect’s tendency to buy a particular product or service. This allows them to tailor resources and cut down excess spending to acquire a new customer.
Technographics, alongside firmographics and demographics, is an extremely valuable dataset for all companies and their sales and marketing teams. This data set brings a new level of operations for their daily activities, and if used correctly can give an incredible advantage to your marketing and sales operations and, in turn, boost your revenue exponentially.
Sources: