Episode #21 of the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast comes from the webinar Data Center Lead Generation 201 (Getting to Decision Makers and Larger Sales).
- Learn strategies for improving lead generation and sales for larger data center opportunities
- Discover best practices for connecting with target accounts and decision-makers on LinkedIn
- Modernize lead generation approaches for the changing data center buyer's journey
- Optimize LinkedIn profiles and company pages to attract decision-makers
- Leverage content and events to build relationships within target accounts
- Improve brand recognition and access to key decision-makers
- Attract data center managers through empathetic content
- Identify larger sales opportunities through website engagement tracking
Host:
Joshua Feinberg, CEO
DCSMI
Special Guest:
N/A
Joshua Feinberg shared insights on lead generation strategies for the data center industry, emphasizing the importance of understanding challenges faced by go-to-market teams, differentiating competitive positioning, and scaling sustainable revenue growth. He also discussed the impact of AI on the industry and the need for data center companies to modernize their lead generation strategies. Feinberg highlighted the importance of creating clear buyer personas, tailoring messaging, and providing value throughout the full buyer journey. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of optimizing LinkedIn profiles for data center sales and creating educational content that establishes the company as a trusted adviser and consultant.
Action Items
- Get the target account list in order and grow LinkedIn connections in those accounts, focusing on IT roles
- Invite 1st-degree connections to LinkedIn Events using the platform
- Monitor website activity flags and CRM for signs prospects are in the decision stage
- Offer to schedule follow-up calls/demos on confirmation pages for premium content
Outline
Lead generation strategies for the data center industry.
- Joshua Feinberg highlights marketing and sales challenges in the data center industry.
- Shares insights on the data center industry, from colocation to hyperscale.
- Feinberg's experience spans IT services and consulting roles in the data center ecosystem.
- Provides insights on lead generation and segmentation for larger sales.
- The webinar covers best practices for target accounts and decision-makers.
AI growth in the data center industry, with predictions of massive upgrades and uneven distribution of gains.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is bullish on the future of the data center industry.
- Industry experts predict significant growth in data center demand, but uneven distribution among companies.
Modernizing lead generation strategies in the data center industry.
- 83% of buyer journeys now happen before meeting a salesperson.
- McKinsey found that 70-80% of people prefer digital buyers' journey.
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding the decision-makers goals and challenges.
- Suggests sales professionals should adopt a consultative approach, like big consulting firms.
- Highlights the importance of modernizing lead generation strategies to stay ahead in the competitive data center industry.
- Emphasizes the need to convert more website visitors into leads, as the website is the lead growth engine that never gets sick or has personal emergencies.
Optimizing LinkedIn profiles for sales.
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding buyer personas and their language to accelerate sales cycles.
- Highlights the need for a professional LinkedIn profile and company page to reach decision-makers.
LinkedIn growth strategies for data center industry professionals.
- Focus on benefits, not personal sales accomplishments, in headshot and summary.
- Emphasizes the importance of LinkedIn connections for business growth in the data center industry.
- Provides tips for growing LinkedIn connections, including identifying target accounts and using LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Provides guidance on using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify and connect with key decision-makers in target accounts.
- Emphasizes the importance of having dozens of mutual connections with key contacts in target accounts for success in mid-market and enterprise sales.
Leveraging LinkedIn for data center sales and marketing.
- Advises building connections on LinkedIn to grow an audience for organic content and newsletters.
- Recommends using LinkedIn events and inviting first-degree connections to expand reach without being salesy.
- Emphasizes the importance of LinkedIn for personal and company branding, lead intelligence, and decision-making committees.
- Suggests ways to get your company and content recommended by decision-makers, such as providing helpful resources and attending webinars.
Leveraging content and events to build relationships within target accounts.
- Emphasizes the importance of spreading thought leadership content within target accounts to build relationships and generate leads.
- Shares a simple email marketing tactic for encouraging team members to share content, which has continued to work well for 20 years.
Improving brand recognition and access to decision-makers in the data center industry.
- Improve brand awareness by controlling messaging and leveraging content.
- Advises being a great tour guide and concierge to prospects and customers by sharing valuable content and guiding them toward the next steps.
- To get access to decision-makers, one must add value beyond just providing information, by showing how their company can help with their specific initiatives and challenges.
Attracting data center managers to a website through empathy and value-added content.
- Understand data center managers' goals and challenges to attract them to your website.
- Discusses strategies for growing LinkedIn connections and improving lead generation from target accounts.
Lead generation strategies for larger sales opportunities.
- Advises marketing professionals to go deeper into the buyer's journey and sales professionals to collaborate earlier.
- Suggests blurring the lines between SDRs, AEs, and customer success to earn trust and build a personal brand.
- Highlights the importance of using marketing technology to identify potential larger sales opportunities in real-time.
- Emphasizes the need to set up alerts for known contacts in the database who are engaging with key pages on the website, indicating they are in the decision stage.
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding your company's strengths and building targeted content to attract mid-market and enterprise IT decision-makers.
- Advises sales teams to lead by example, partner well with marketing, and use editorial calendars and personalization to improve lead generation for larger accounts.
Sales strategies for data center companies.
- Top-down initiative focuses on creating definitive industry resource.
- Understand and leverage relationships to secure meetings with key decision-makers.
Improving data center sales and marketing strategies.
Partner channel playbook for data center growth.
- Discusses partner finder strategies for distributors.
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding partner goals, challenges, and content strategy.
- Shares insights on how to generate better leads and grow sales in the data center industry.
- Encourages listeners to use the webinar recording as a conversation starter with other stakeholders in their company.
Guest Resources
Do you want to stay up to date about upcoming episodes?
Subscribe to the Data Center Sales and Marketing Newsletter