“Data plays a critical role everywhere,” is Jeff’s motto for any strategic business decision. In episode #30 of our Datavana Podcast, Jeff Pedowitz (President and CEO at The Pedowitz Group) talks about data and its role as a foundation of any and all decision making. “Making sure that the data that you have is underlying and supporting that key strategy.”

From who to target and how, engagement tactics, and purchasing new tools and technologies, data, plays the most integral component. “You have to have data, good data.” High quality data is vital for maintaining lifelong customer relationships, a key component of The Loop Model, which Jeff focuses on in his bestselling book, F The Funnel. “The Loop is about moving away from treating our customer as a transaction and really moving more towards a relationship.”

Jeff and host John Kosturos also discuss propensity models, the ever changing nature of data, the latest tools, and strategy variation for increasing Go-To-Market effectiveness.

“The number one question that we face as a marketer and as a business is, ‘Can I trust the data?”. In this episode on our Datavana Podcast, Efrat Ravid (Chief Marketing Officer at Quantum Metric) talks about reliable customer data and how it informs decisions and company direction. “Do we have the right data? And can we look across the entire organization on the same data flow in order to be able to make decisions?”

Having the right data is vital for decision-making, and when companies aren’t aligned on data solutions, businesses are prevented from forming cohesive strategies. “We have data because we want to understand the customer.” Viewing the data from the customer's perspective is the best way to begin to understand the customer addressing their needs and concerns to help your business grow.

Efrat and host Alon Waks also discuss decision-making solutions, and how businesses need to transform user experiences to remain competitive in the digital world we live in.

Scott is the Data Whisperer. Scott has worked for almost 30 years in the data management space to try and “calm data down.” In an episode 27 of our The Data Heroes Podcast, Scott Taylor (Principal Data Consultant at MetaMeta Consulting) chats with host John Kosturos about all things data maintenance. From purchasing data orchestration tools to beginner steps for quality improvement, to why quality is important for storytelling. “Data quality is not the destination. It's an enabler of other things.”

To avoid data disasters, quality and internal standards are required to formulate valuable insights to point your business in the right direction. “I’ve spoken to every kind of company and every type of industry all over the planet, everybody's got all these same kinds of problems.”

Scott also talks about the importance of being able to effectively communicate the data problems of the business to the higher-ups through data storytelling. “I've never met a CEO or a business leader who feels that data quality is the number one initiative or top five initiatives.”

“Feedback makes us better.” Nobody understands the customer quite like Leslie. In episode #24 of our Datavana Podcast, Leslie Stretch (President and CEO at Medallia) talks all things customer feedback and how these invaluable insights fuel improvement. “It's about putting together the insights that tell you why people buy or why they leave you.”

Gathering feedback and opted-in data about the customer experience from a range of channels, Leslie and his company ensures that no stone is left unturned. “My view of data is how do we uncover the voice of the silent majority in every context.” Acting upon insights given directly by the customer allows you to better understand them. This understanding unlocks the potential to shape and render a better experience for customers, improving their journey and the business as a result.

Leslie and host Jaimie Muirhead also chat about personalization, intent data, CDPs, and Medallia’s developments in cross brand journeys. “Journeys are where the world is moving in terms of trying to understand the value of feedback.”

“Can data security be any more important? The answer is, yes!” Brent takes data security seriously and understands the duty of care businesses must take if they want to keep their customers on the side. In episode #23 of our Datavana Podcast, Brent Leary (Founder at CRM Essentials) talks about the implications of data security. He highlights the fine line between tracking customer data to provide improved customer experiences, and being transparent with customers to increase brand trust. “It's really important for companies to be as open and as transparent about how they're leveraging the data, your customer's data.”

Data is being generated faster and in more ways than ever before, and data is rapidly becoming companies’ most valuable assets. “Data comes from a variety of areas, becoming harder and harder to actually keep the data secure and safe.” However, should businesses become more transparent with how they’re using and storing data while affording customers the choice to opt-in or out? How can companies who are responsibly handling customer data use the information to enhance the customer journey? “We want to use the data to create better experiences for you and give you the opportunity to opt-in or not to opt-in.”

Brent and host John Kosturos also chat about AI and machine learning, analyzing the different types of data being generated and the future of data quality tools.

“It always starts with the data.” Roderick is an expert in the enablement space & organizational alignment through high-quality data. In episode #26 of our Datavana Podcast, Roderick Jefferson (Vice President, Field Enablement at Netskope) and host John Kosturos discuss the intricacies and powerful potential of Field Enablement. Translating data and interpreting insights in department-relatable lingo, Enablement permeates and centralizes company processes, tools, departments, and strategies to orchestrate complete alignment on all fronts by utilizing high-quality data.

“Enablement has to be woven into the fabric of the company. And how do you do it? There is no better way to do it than with hard-line data and metrics.” Enablement aligns and works within Marketing, Sales, and Rev OPs to ensure the provision of consistent customer deliverables for engaging experiences. “We get the right content to the right people at the right time so that they can have conversations at the right level.”

Also covered in this episode, Roderick and John discuss ICPs, IEPs (Ideal Employee Profiles), Sales Marketing handoffs, and territory management.

In episode #22 of our Datavana Podcast, Charlie Cole (CEO of FTD) talks with his good friend and host Jaime Muirhead about FTD, how Charlie got started in Data, FTD under Covid and what lies ahead for the future. Staying afloat in tough times means having high-quality data to feed insights for forecasting and growth. “Any good forecast in e-commerce all starts with marketing.” The data must be visible and it’s integrity strong for analysis to effectively corner the market through great marketing around the funnel.

Charlie and Jaime also break down handoffs, seasonality and profitability, deliverability tracking, and technology strategies. “Not every technology needs to differentiate you from your competitors. Some just need to work.”

“The kiss of death,” is how Mark Roberge describes an unaligned sales and marketing team. In episode {20} of our Datavana Podcast, Mark Roberge (Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital) discusses the importance of focusing on marketing and sales tactics and strategies to more effectively corner the market. “If you don't have sales and Marketing completely aligned some competitor is going to align their’s first.”

For Mark, every single outreach and customer touchpoint needs to add value in order to close in on leads and prospects faster. As well as valuable messaging and content, time is vital too, “Increase your sales velocity by 20%, call leads within minutes”. According to Mark, getting the customer to talk often and early at the beginning of a relationship increases rates of success.

Mark also talks about tapping into closed loss accounts, getting the most out of each lead, and how best sales practices result in more conversions.

"Data frees you from debate and delays," and is the reason why Latané Conant is so focused on leveraging data to seal deals with prospects. Rather than generating leads, Latané aims to generate qualified accounts. In this episode of the Datavana podcast, we have Latané Conant, Chief Market Officer at 6sense. Latané works closely with sales and marketing teams to put the prospects at the center of everything they do. 

She is also a GTM advisor, V2MOM enthusiast, and Speaker. With a background in sales, accounting, and consulting, Latané is not your typical CMO. "I don't believe in a job. I don't work. It is a cause. I've always worked at companies where I cared so much. I believed so much in what we were doing," she explains.

So how to turn data into a competitive advantage? What's the role of machine learning in data analytics? And what's the most efficient way to drive revenue? Tune in to the latest episode of the Datavana podcast to find out.

The data-driven world keeps evolving. The volume of data keeps increasing. “Every year, there's just more and more data that's available.” What businesses need to understand is that the key to delivering value to customers is through high-quality data. In this episode of the Datavana podcast, Jeff Coveney and host John Kosturos, discuss the importance of high-quality data, data normalization, and effective data processing.

Currently a CMO at Digital Pi, Jeff oversees the marketing department and ensures the company's message is spread consistently across all channels. Jeff started his career in product management, where data played an important role. He then went on to explore marketing automation and learned how to leverage data through automation.

Jeff explains, "You're not going to get a great customer experience if you don't have the underlying data to be able to segment properly and send the right messages to the right people at the right time." Tune in to find out how you can leverage data to maximize your marketing strategies.