The Big Data Dilemma: How We’re Helping Companies Know Their Customer Better

It’s no longer a question that knowing your customers’ business goals, needs, desires, and pain points are vital to closing deals and helping them grow. But how do you truly come to know your customer? The answer is data. 

McKinsey research shows that data-driven organizations are 23X more likely to acquire customers, 6X as likely to retain customers, and 19X as likely to be profitable as a result. However, data also shows that only 1% of the world’s data is used effectively, while 90% of the world’s data was created over the past year. 

The industry is engrossed with buzzwords and practices like AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics. But while these enticing capabilities can lead many to ponder their companies’ business intelligence initiatives, we at BrainSell believe that these “shiny new toys” are not the right place to start. The focus should be more on the foundational data infrastructure of the business.  

Let’s walk through some of the challenges many businesses face with their data, then discuss how BrainSell is looking to alleviate those pain points: 

The Data-Driven Hurdles 

Most businesses today are not prepared to leverage AI or machine learning in any way, even if they have made considerable investments in their data infrastructure.  

Research from Demand Gen Report shows that there are often many challenges plaguing businesses and their data initiatives. Some of those challenges include: 

• Data being old or outdated (78%). 
• Not having time/resources to implement an effective process (61%). 
• Not having a standard operating procedure for teams to keep data updated (49%). 
• Limitations and issues with technology (44%). 

The most formidable challenge for businesses looking to better utilize data in their go-to-market initiatives is that they want to quickly implement, rather than build out a blueprint that sets a strong foundation for their data dreams to grow.  

Therefore, instead of leaping before you look, BrainSell suggests formulating a game plan and then HOPP! The acronym “HOPP” stands for: 

Historical Data

This data set includes all past information available from your company. This includes your basic financial statements, historical data about annual revenue, past engagement with campaigns, and other similar information. This data is analyzed once or twice a year to gain a better understanding of the historical growth of the company. 

Operational Data

This data set includes all the essential data your teams need to run the day-to-day initiatives of the business. This can be engagement data from ongoing campaigns, data highlighting the current pipeline for your sales team, data obtained from active support tickets, and more. Insights are gained from this data set on a weekly or monthly basis.   

Predictive Data

This data set includes any information that helps your company’s forecasting endeavors. This can consist of engagement data that helps identify the best ways to communicate with prospects, financial data to better forecast operating costs, and more. Instead of being reactionary with this data, you make forward-looking decisions to help get the business where it needs to be and make future decisions. 

Prescriptive Data

This data set is where AI and machine learning comes into the picture. Prescriptive data is actionable insights that let you pivot on the fly. The key here is that employees often overlook the uncovered signals gained from data by software and machine algorithms. Prescriptive ultimately combines the strategy and the data; where predictive data allows you to make the decisions for the future, prescriptive data help suggest possible actions to findings within the data.  

Ultimately, the compelling use cases around AI and machine learning are an end goal; but the initial focus should be on the historical and operational data infrastructure of the business. 

The Solution: Meet Palmetto EV

There is a lot to digest here, but a Big Data journey doesn’t have to be traveled alone! BrainSell has the history and expertise to help any business accomplish its data goals. 

We have come to learn that the best way to understanding data and the potential of data is by telling a story. Stories are recognizable patterns from which we can derive meaning. It is far easier to use stories to make sense of our world and share that understanding with others. 

Therefore, we created Palmetto EV, a fictitious electronic bike and scooter company. With the help of Palmetto EV, we can highlight all the familiar challenges and unclear solutions in a relevant and contextual way. 

By creating Palmetto EV, we aim to provide a clear view of how companies accomplish data-driven initiatives and (more importantly) how it will help YOUR business grow. 

Ready to Talk Data?

Truly knowing your customer is what leads to successful growing businesses. The only way you can position your team to know their customer is by empowering them with the right data. We have made it our mission here at BrainSell to help our customers make their data dreams a reality. 

We will be producing future articles highlighting Palmetto EV and providing a lot of actionable insight into how businesses can better enable and empower themselves to grow through the power of data. Join us on our ride to help Palmetto EV with its data enablement initiatives. 

Want to learn more? Feel free to reach out to us and start a discussion or check out our data assessment to see where your business currently stands in its data-driven journey.