Business Insight Zone

Recently, Aberdeen Group researched the performance of 476 corporate sales teams. It published the results of this research in its December 2009 Benchmark Report, Inside Sales Enablement: “Let Them Drink Coffee!”

Below, you’ll find a copy of Aberdeen’s follow-up report focused on Hoover’s customers — who

“outperform[ed] other companies in both [financial] performance and the adoption of Best-In-Class practices.”

You can access this PDF and download a copy for yourself by clicking on the image below or on this link.

Among other highlights, Hoover’s customers outperformed in terms of:

• Revenue
• Lead response time
• Lead conversion rate

All in all,

“Hoover’s customers have out-performed those that do not use their service, in terms of the percent of companies improving their year-over-year sales metrics, by an average of 25%.”

Take a look at the report, which contains other analysis about the performance of sales teams across the board, as well as a mini-case study that explains how Staples uses our Access Hoover’s product to integrate Hoover’s data into its Salesforce.com CRM.

Here at Hoover’s, we’ve always believed that great business information empowers sales teams to do their best. We’re pleased to share this Aberdeen Group report so that you can see the hard numbers that back up our belief.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments, or to drop us a line so we can help you figure out how Hoover’s can empower your sales teams.

If you’re a fan of informative business webinars, or you just want to get the inside scoop from two of Hoover’s finest, register now for these great upcoming events:

• Wednesday, Feb. 24th — Top 5 Ways to Get Your Sales Team to LOVE Your CRM — Hoover’s VP of Business Development Heidi Tucker knows all the pitfalls that can derail companies’ CRM use — and will teach you how to avoid them. In this session, you’ll learn how to use your CRM system to identify fresh, targeted leads, shorten your sales cycle, and increase customer satisfaction for better retention.
• Thursday, Feb. 25th — Start 2010 Strong: See What’s New at Hoover’s — Hoover’s Director of Marketing Communications Adam Hanin will walk you through the comprehensive upgrades to the content, tools, and functionality that we’ve made to help Hoover’s subscribers build their businesses. Adam will show you how to build targeted marketing campaigns, organize and track the companies that are important to you, and much more!

We hope you’ll make time to join us for one or both of these sessions!

Many months of work by hundreds of people across Hoover’s have com to fruition for our customers: today we began migrating our subscribers to the new Hoover’s site.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be moving all of our customers to this new platform, which offers a wealth of new features, plus enhancements to existing tools. (Don’t worry — we’ll give you plenty of warning when it’s your turn to make the move.)

I won’t take the space here to tell you about all of the improvements, but here are some highlights:

• Many more company and contact records: you’ll now be able to get information on more than 65 million enterprises and 85 million people worldwide.
• CRM-style tools to help you manage and track your customers and prospects.
• Simpler record layouts, with quick and easy navigation to any part of any record.
• An enhanced List Builder tool that lets you find relevant records using more criteria than ever.
• Improved Competitive Landscape tools, complete with customizable financial charts and graphs.

All of us at Hoover’s are excited to bring these improvements to our customers. Speaking personally, I’m also eager to see some of the inventive things that our customers do with these new capabilities as they drive their businesses forward despite the soft economy.

You’ll hear plenty more about our new platform in weeks to come, but for now, let me emphasize just two things:

• If you weren’t sure about subscribing to Hoover’s before, we think this new launch will convince you to join us. And if you’re already a customer, prepare yourself for the best Hoover’s experience you’ve ever had.
• If you have any questions about the new site, its capabalities, your timetable for migration, or whatever else, please don’t hesitate to ask a question in the comments here,  via Twitter, or by any of our customer support channels.

Stay tuned — there’s lots more to come.

If you’re a Hoover’s subscriber, you already know how useful the information and tools on our site are. Well, brace yourselves, because a whole new Hoover’s site is coming your way in 2010.

What’s new, you ask? Here’s a sampler:

• More than 60 million company records (up from 30 million)
• More than 75 million people records (up from 36 million)
• New data elements, including D&B’s proprietary Prescreen Score, latitude/longitude information, and more
• Interactive graphs and charts
• Interactive Competitor Landscape
• A redesigned Build A List tool that makes complex searches easier than ever — and allows you to search for e-mail contacts with the right add-ons
• And on and on and ON.

We’re very excited about these changes, which will be rolling out during Q1 of 2010. In fact, we’re so excited that we’re giving you a sneak preview of the new site right now. Just click on this link, log in with your current information, and take a good look at what’s already been implemented in the redesign.

Keep in mind that what you see now is only part of the whole picture — we’ll continue to update the Preview Site with new functionality in the coming weeks and months.

While you’re there, you can give us feedback on the new tools and layout so that we can make it even better when it debuts to the whole Hoover’s audience in 2010. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but we’d love to know what you think about it.

What are you waiting for? If you’re a Hoover’s subscriber, check out the Hoover’s Preview Site now!

Continuing our recent string of product enhancements, we’re pleased to announce release 3.0 of the Hoover’s API, which allows custom integration of Hoover’s data for:

• enterprises with custom data needs (e.g. because they have hand-built CRM or ERP systems); and
• software makers whose apps benefit from having our top-notch company, industry, and people data integrated into them.

Some of the highlights of the 3.0 release:

• An expanded data set — You can now access 60 million company records, including many more non-U.S. records than before.
• New data points — including latitude/longitude information and the D&B Prescreen Score.
• New search parameters — including the ability to search by company URL.

For more information on this release, check out this post at the “New at Hoover’s” blog. And for MUCH more about the API and how your company can benefit from it, click on over to our dedicated Hoover’s API site and blog. (You can even register for a development API key while you’re there.)

The hits just keep on rolling . . .

We’re proud to announce that Hoover’s has partnered with Jigsaw to enhance our ConnectMail product, which is available as an add-on to Hoover’s subscriptions. ConnectMail gives Hoover’s subscribers access to an additional 7.5 million contacts generated from Jigsaw’s community, which grows by 25,000 active contacts per day.

ConnectMail helps you to:

• Keep track of valuable connections via a “My Contacts” list;
• Find the right business decision makers for your sales and marketing efforts;
• Manage a large number of contacts easily.

For more information, check out this entry from the “New at Hoover’s” blog, or call 877-303-3810.

Want to see me speak about social media and its impact on business? Will you be in Dallas on Thursday?

Follow this link to register for Social Media Club Dallas, coming up this week on the 19th. The meeting runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the offices of Moroch Partners on Hall Street in downtown Dallas.

My topic:

“Professor Drucker Would Like a Word with You
about Your Social Media Strategy”

After the event, join us at Bengal Coast for good food and more informal conversation.

Hope to meet you there!

You’re invited to the next installment in Hoover’s free webinar series:

Sales, Prospects, and Clients: Getting Back To Face-to-Face
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at noon Eastern

Our speaker for the one-hour session will be Nancy D. Solomon, a professional speaker, counselor, and coach who has spent many years helping others understand how human relationships impact business success.

Economic conditions have put a tremendous strain on both individuals and organizations; this session will help you understand how a personal approach to your prospects and customers can make you a better — and happier — seller or marketer, despite the economy.

Register for the event by following this link and you’ll also receive a complimentary white paper.

Please join us for a lively discussion on Thursday!

Cast your mind back to the July 1 release date of The Day-Glo Brothers, the debut effort from longtime Hooverite Chris Barton, when this blog celebrated the arrival of the book.

Well, Chris’s hard work has paid off in the form of having The Day-Glo Brothers listed as one of Publisher’s Weekly’s 30 Best Children’s Books of 2009! Check out the whole list here:

Best Children’s Books of 2009

Congratulations to Chris — we couldn’t be prouder!

(Oh, and look for his follow-up book, Shark vs. Train, in April 2010!)

During his panel presentation this morning at the Innotech conference here in Austin, Hoover’s EVP Peter Poulin fielded questions about Web site testing platforms. He promised the crowd a follow-up with a longer list of testing/optimization providers.

Here’s a starter set for that list, drawn from our own experience and from audience feedback at Peter’s event:

• 7 Billion People
• Autonomy Optimost
• Google Website Optimizer
• Omniture Test & Target
• SiteCore Online Marketing Suite

No endorsements implied — just providing a handy reference.

Now, over to you: What platforms would YOU add to this list?

~

Photo by Luca Volpi, used under a CC-Share Alike license.