Beyond the Data, Part 3: Turning Family Trees into Fortune

In this series of articles, we’re exploring how to turn your CRM data into a strategic advantage. And we’re defining data as both the data you enter into CRM and external data, if you have a sales intelligence add-on. In the first article, we talked about turning news into sales. The second article provided tips to turn industry insights into icebreakers. Today, we’ll look at how to leverage family trees to grow your business.

Let’s start with a definition. When I refer to family trees, I’m not talking about the kind you uncover on Ancestry.com. I’m talking about the linkages between related companies - parent companies, subsidiaries, and ultimate parent companies.

One of the first things I suggest you do when you get a new prospect is check out their family tree. Why? It could save you a lot of time and pain.

Picture this, you’re researching an inbound lead from Converse. Did you know they are a subsidiary of Nike? Who would have thought?  Better check to see if anyone else in your company is already working with Nike. If so, it’s time to coordinate efforts and resolve any potential channel conflict up front.

Now let’s talk about how to grow your business using family trees.

Four ways to leverage corporate linkages to generate more revenue

1. Multiply your success.

When you sell to one subsidiary of a company, use your connections and learnings to sell to the other subsidiaries. Here’s how.