Mar 21st, 2009| 
DemandBase Stream is a very cool desktop client that can be used for active sales intelligence. The idea behind DemandBase is simple and nothing new, but it’s the user interface that is unique. DemandBase uses a callback snippet that is added on every page of your website. This script lets the DemadBase server know who is visiting your website and how they browse through it. Nothing too impressive, right? Google Web Analytics does the same.
True, but Google analytics doesn’t give you sales information, it’s more of a marketing tool. Read the difference between a website sales intelligence vs. marketing analytics tool.
It’s not just how it processes the data that’s important; it’s how it presents it on the desktop as a ticker. We all have seen desktop tickers – from Yahoo News to Ameritrade’s stock trading ticker. And having a ticker on the sales guy desktop is an amazing idea.
The sales team reaction was different when they saw other sales intelligence tools such as Active Conversion or Leadlander. These tools are good in their own right, and may even offer superior sales intelligence data in some aspects. But the user experience with DemandBase Stream has a “act-now” effect that motivates the mind to do something.
Once you click on the visitor, DemandBase integrates with business directory tools such as Hoovers and Jigsaw to dig more business information about the lead. The desktop client can support filters such as geographic location so that your sales guys can see leads from their territory only. You can also flag existing customers or hot leads so that you can monitor how they visit your web site.
Very nice tool with a dynamic interface that imposes a sense of urgency with your sales team. That’s fresh! Christopher Golec, CEO of DemandBase had this to say about his product suite.
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March 22nd, 2009 at 11:51
DemandBase might be exciting to view on your screen, but you cannot qualify the visiting companies as DemandBase doesn’t provide the pages visited and other visiting data.
That is like running after every single possible opportunity.
Try LEADSExplorer for a change, that seamlessly integrates website with CRM for real-time data and analysis upon your communications.
April 3rd, 2009 at 20:49
Actually Demandbase does tell you the pages visited and lots of other data about the visitors…you can see what pages they visited, how long they were there, what search terms they used to find you, and more. If they searched on a term that’s not indicative of a solid selling opportunity you don’t need to call them….if they spent all of their time on the careers page looking for a job you don’t need to call them, if they spent all of their time on the leadership page looking for people at your company to contact, you don’t need to call them. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
March 19th, 2010 at 20:01
I use Stream pretty much every day and I can tell you that I’ve uncovered new sales opportunities simply because a company has shown interest on our website. There are tons of companies that we may not think of as being good prospects until they show up on our website and view 4-5 high-value pages. You can think of Stream as being your sales radar. I don’t waste my time following up with prospects that haven’t shown a strong interest and with Stream’s new alert functionality I don’t have to.
May 12th, 2010 at 03:11
Yes, it is a bit like a radar. Lead funneling is great for me now. I can also figure out my hit rates better. It hasn’t helped my guys shorten their sales cycle though… just that we can focus on our leads better.