In most high-performing sales organisations, lead enrichments have become a core staple of their Revenue Operations processes.
But when we do CRM audits, we still come across companies that rely on manual lead enrichment for tasks that could be easily automated.
This is surprising to me.
Automated data enrichment costs close to nothing today compared to the cost of additional headcount and diverting revenue teams from their core activities.
I've even seen cases where the CMO or CSO handles this enrichment and imports.
Sometimes, they even manage lead assignments (a topic for another post).
So not only is this not delegated, but the most expensive people in the Go-to-Market (GTM) teams are often the ones doing it.
Imagine your highest-paid employees sitting in spreadsheets, manually updating fields, and doing imports.
These are the people you hired to drive revenue growth and scale.
Or your SDR team doing the same instead of building outreach campaigns, mapping key accounts, and engaging with champions and key stakeholders.
This is a massive waste.
But it's easy and comfortable work, and people tend to get caught up in it.
As it becomes a habit, it may feel productive, and most don't even realise it's a problem.
Not only this but the updates and enrichment often take days or even weeks.
This is not a minor issue, considering how vital speed and timing are in sales.
Especially today, with high competition and smaller budgets for software and tools, you need to maximise the close rate of the opportunities you have.
Instead of solving the foundational issues, more headcount is often added when revenue numbers are missed, leading to even more inefficiencies.
Assuming you have a defined ICP and product-market fit, your revenue teams should not spend time on data enrichment in 2024. At least, it should not be the first line of defence.
Instead, you should automate this process.
This will ensure higher data accuracy and allow the use of email verification tools to reduce the risk of your outreach campaigns ending up in spam.
And not to mention allowing what's often the most expensive team to do the work they are hired to do.
But suppose they prefer updating spreadsheets to creating high-impact campaigns, mapping key accounts, and engaging with key opportunities.
In that case, that's a red flag that you might have the wrong person in that seat.
