In 2016, VentureBeat rightly proclaimed, “'Technographics’ is the new demographics”. Over the past few years, several companies have been eager to adopt technographics to inform their sales and marketing operations.
Whereas demographic details typically encompass publicly available company details (such as industry, employee count, and annual revenue, for example), technographic details are less readily apparent.
They include details related to a company’s technology stack--the different types of software and hardware products and services a company has deployed. Martech Advisor was spot on when it affirmed, “Your competitive sweet spot is where firmographics and demographics intersect with technographics, helping you identify your best-selling opportunities—whether you’re offering a compatible or competitive solution.”
There are several core reasons why technographics can move waters in terms of sales and marketing professionals’ abilities to gain a better understanding of their prospects and customers.
An understanding of technographics enables sales and marketing professionals to predict a company's technology budget. For instance, if a company has a well-built out technology stack, encompassing a multitude of different use cases, it is more likely to have a larger budget for new technologies. Access to technographic details allows sales and marketing professionals to gain granular details about how a firm's technology budget is allocated. Understanding, for example, that a particular firm has purchased five different marketing automation platforms, infers it likely has a healthy budget for marketing automation.
With an understanding of the specific types of software and hardware products deployed at a company, sales and marketing professionals are better able to identify "white space" opportunities. By analyzing a company's complete technology footprint, Enlyft can identify the specific capabilities that are likely most important to a firm in terms of technology purchases. Technographic data, for example, can determine whether a specific firm emphasizes ease-of-use features, security capabilities, or cost when purchasing a new technology.
The real advantage of technographics is realized when technographics is coupled with modeling.
Using technographic information and modeling capabilities, Enlyft builds propensity scores for its customers that predict how likely a specific organization is to make a technology purchase within a certain area (i.e., CRM, marketing automation, predictive intelligence, etc.) within a specified given time frame. Companies that only offer technographic information (without modeling), aren’t able to leverage technographic information to create robust buying propensity scores for their customers. There is no continuous feedback look in order to improve results over time.
Increasingly, customers are demanding a more personalized buying journey. We are living in the age of the customer. Only with access to technographic data can we glean a 360-degree view of prospects and customers. Technographic data can be a boon in terms of helping sales and marketing professionals craft messaging that is relevant to their specific accounts.
When equipped, for example, with the knowledge that a target account has invested heavily in Salesforce, a potential vendor is in a position to customize outreach messaging accordingly. If, on the one hand, a vendor's product offerings have strong Salesforce integration capabilities, the vendor can personalize messaging to highlight the strong integration. If, in contrast, Salesforce represents a competitive product to a vendor, the vendor can personalize outreach to focus on comparative advantages.
When the powers of technographics and artificial intelligence combine, the results are transformative. Sales and marketing professionals are able to uncover unique insights that the human brain would be incapable of. For example, if a firm was equipped with the knowledge that companies using a combination of Marketo and Microsoft Dynamics exhibit a distinct level of technical sophistication that results in them being prime candidates for that firms’ offerings, the implications are game-changing.
This depth of knowledge can inform ideal customer profiles, go-to-market strategies, and sales and marketing outreach tactics, ultimately improving deal velocity and revenue. If leveraged properly, technographic data can drive major competitive advantage and lead to an intimate and unprecedented understanding of prospects and customers.