How Data Centers Segment to Differentiate

When data centers dump all of their leads into the same bucket and provide them with the same message, is not only a huge problem but also a huge missed opportunity. Segmenting leads is highly critical. Failing to segment leaves a huge missed opportunity because it is one of the quickest ways to differentiate from:

• Your direct competitors
• Your indirect competitors
• Other people in the data center industry buying attention (non-business model competitors)

In a recent Q&A webinar, we addressed concerns of Data Center CEO’s, Sales Directors, and CMOs relating to sales acceleration, discussing this topic in depth. Interested in watching the webinar recording? If so, access it here: “Data Center Sales Funnel Acceleration Q&A Webinar.”

Differentiation

By just thinking about segmentation alone, you will be way ahead of the game. Most data centers act as if their prospects and clients are all the same. Acting as if your prospects and clients are all the same is a huge mistake.

Is it possible to over segment? Not really.

When thinking about segmentation, consider companies such as Amazon, NetFlix, and iTunes.

When you visit Amazon.com, you may get the feeling they are suggesting products for you to buy based on thousands of other people’s selections; this is not the case. Amazon bases its suggestions on:

• Previous items you have purchased
• Things you searched for in the past
• Things you have in your cart
• Things you have previously put in your cart

Amazon does a tremendous job of targeting, partially why they are disrupting on so many fronts such as AWS and on the retail side of things where people are purchasing physical goods.

Bottom Line

At the minimum, make sure you segment your leads by buyer persona. You should also consider segmenting your leads by:

• Life cycle stages
• Leads
• Market qualified leads (MQLs)
• Sales qualified leads (SQLs)
• Opportunities
• Client evangelists

You should always know where leads are in their sales process.

The lazy approach of ignoring this may have worked ten years ago, but being lazy with this is no longer going to be effective. With the ridiculous amount of competition for your prospects and clients, you really have to nail that relevancy.

How does your data center differentiate from the competition? Have you ever used a segmentation approach? Let us know in the comments below.

To learn more about data center sales acceleration, download the webinar recording “Data Center Sales Funnel Acceleration Q&A Webinar.”