Gaining an Edge with Sales Intelligence: Funding & Acquisition
Sales intelligence is the key to identifying funding sources and tracking acquired businesses across various industries. With the right sales intelligence tool, you can also track competitors and gain an edge by getting the data and insights you need to make informed decisions.
To create an effective, efficient research and prospecting process, you must stay up-to-date on industry news and trends and leverage data drawn from a sales intelligence tool to keep on top of your industry's latest news and announcements.
Sales Intelligence Provides Actionable Insights
While access to the correct data can lead to an edge over the competition or significant financial backing for some businesses, it can also serve other purposes. Using a sales intelligence tool such as Owler Max means you will also have access to detailed company information, including changes in revenue, products, and partnerships, and role changes among crucial decision-makers. Owler Max contains a comprehensive database with filters you can choose from to narrow your search, along with alerts that notify you of changes within companies you choose to follow.
Whether you use the business data and sales insights you gather to connect with prospects or pursue opportunities with existing customers, you have an easily accessible wealth of knowledge in one place with Owler Max.
Types of Business Funding
Before your business tracks funding, it’s essential to understand the different types of financial backing options available.
There are three main types of funding: equity, debt, and grants.
Equity funding involves selling a portion of a company in exchange for capital including venture capital, angel investors, or crowdfunding.
Debt funding is the process of borrowing money from a lender. This can be in the form of a loan, line of credit, or another financial source.
Grants are funds given to a company or individual for a specific purpose. Government agencies or private foundations typically issue these.
Now that the backing options have been covered, rounds of funding are a critical aspect of the process with which you will also want to be familiar.
Understanding Rounds of Funding
Funding can come in different rounds. Each round has its specific purpose and timeline. Start-ups should understand the various financing rounds and when they are likely to occur.
The seed round is the earliest round of funding. This round typically comes from friends, family, and angel investors. The goal of the seed round is to raise enough capital to get the start-up off the ground and prove the concept.
The Series A round of funding is to expand the business. This round usually comes from venture capitalists and is used to hire additional staff, develop the team, and launch new products and services.
The Series B round is to scale the business and prepare for a potential exit. This round usually comes from venture capitalists or strategic investors.
The Series C round is typically used to continue scaling the business and prepare for an initial public offering (IPO). Like Series B, this round often comes from venture capitalists and strategic investors.
Keeping Track of Key Events
Tracking acquisitions and funding using Owler can have several benefits for your business. It can help you stay ahead of the competition by providing insights into critical events among competitors. It can also serve as an effective sales trigger or present the perfect opportunity to identify potential investors. Companies can then analyze the activities of investors to determine if they are a good fit. By keeping tabs on funding and acquisitions, your business can better understand industry trends and how to take advantage of them.
Benefits of Tracking Acquisitions Through Sales Intelligence
Leverage sales intelligence tools to track this type of data and industry insights. The benefits of tracking company acquisitions are:
A Better understanding of your target market: By tracking the companies acquired, sales professionals can gain valuable insights into their target market and identify potential prospects.
Increased sales opportunities: Acquired companies often lead to an increase in sales opportunities as they are likely to need new products or services.
Improved customer relationships: Keeping track of business acquisitions can help sales professionals stay informed about changes in the customer’s organization, allowing them to maintain and strengthen their relationships with key contacts.
Better alignment with company strategy: Sales professionals who track business acquisitions can better align their efforts with their company’s overall sales strategy, helping to drive results and achieve goals.
Competitive advantage: By being aware of business acquisitions, sales professionals can stay ahead of their competitors and identify new growth opportunities.
Remaining Competitive in Your Industry
If you’re a salesperson looking to remain competitive, utilize the acquisition and funding data you gain from sales intelligence to better understand target companies and industries and tailor your sales approach accordingly. This information can provide insights into a company's financial stability and information about competitors and their funding status. Additionally, keeping track of this information can help salespeople identify new markets and industries for expansion. By staying informed and utilizing this information strategically, you can differentiate yourself from the competition and drive more successful sales outcomes.
Tracking businesses that have recently secured funding also means you can determine which companies are growing and may need your products or services. Additionally, by staying informed about the latest trends and developments in business funding, you can better understand the financial landscape and use that knowledge to build stronger relationships with existing clients and close more sales.
Sales Intelligence Helps Fuel Marketing Efforts
Marketers also benefit from the use of sales intelligence. Search competitors and then quickly analyze the data a powerful tool like Owler Max provides to identify opportunities to gain insights, including funding your competitors have received, the sources of that funding, and any acquisitions they have made. This information can help inform a company's marketing strategy and competitive positioning. Business funding and acquisition data can provide valuable insights, enabling marketers to create more effective and targeted campaigns.
You can identify emerging trends and hot markets by analyzing funding and acquisition data.
Investment targeting: You can use funding and acquisition data to identify potential investors and acquirers and to target their outreach efforts towards these organizations.
Market segmentation: By analyzing funding and acquisition data, marketers can identify and segment their target market, tailoring their messaging and outreach efforts to meet each segment's specific needs and preferences.
By using business funding and acquisition data, marketers can make data-driven decisions that help inform their marketing strategies, increase their chances of success, and drive better results.
Reach the Prospects You Want
From prioritizing your time and resources effectively to personalizing your outreach efforts, sales intelligence places you in front of the prospects you want to connect with and ultimately increases your chances of success.
Data-driven decisions are at the heart of business growth. By continuously monitoring and analyzing business data, you can make data-driven decisions that help increase the chances of successfully gaining and retaining new customers. Insights can be used to create targeted sales and marketing campaigns and tailor outreach to prioritize the most promising leads. Business data can also track and monitor a company's progress and identify trends that can inform future sales strategies.
Learn how Owler Max can help you keep track of funding, acquisitions, and more business data. With the right sales intelligence tools, you can gain an edge and stay ahead of the competition.