BC Startup Sales Podcast – New Channels For Lead Engagement & Intel with Bart Lorang (FullContact)

This week, the Bowery Capital team hosted Bart Lorang, Co-Founder and CEO of FullContact, to discuss “New Channels For Lead Engagement & Intel.” FullContact is a Denver, Colorado based contact management company focused on making relationships better through prospect/audience insights. The company is hellbent on delivering an effective product built on trust, empathy and understanding, both for and by the consumer.

Bart Lorang is the Co-Founder and CEO of FullContact, helping businesses management both prospect and contact relationships more effectively. Prior to FullContact, Lorang worked at Dimension Technology Solutions as CTO, President, and Owner, as well as at v1.vc as a Co-Founder and Managing Director. Zach graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Computer Science.

In today’s day-and-age, the increasing prevalence of a multi-channel distribution strategy has made personalization and engagement all the more difficult. There are a multitude of avenues through which businesses can reach both prospects and existing contacts. With so many solutions, where does sustained value fit in? Bart says it starts with an understanding of people and a conscious betterment of relationships. He claims that today, sellers might often lack a true comprehension for the value exchange necessary in each interaction. In other words, they must be two-sided to succeed. As discussed early on, many of today’s issues around consent are being solved through regulatory action (i.e. GDPR). In Bart’s opinion, regulatory intervention can get the ball rolling, but ultimately market solutions will be most beneficial. As we moved on to the topic of using data to make more effective outreach decisions, Bart introduced an important strategy, the “3 P’s”, when thinking about building or maintaining a relationship. Personalization through data on one’s personal interests, professional challenges, and passion pursuits can assist sellers in increasing lead engagement. In Bart’s words, “Slowing down a little bit, to speed up, increases conversion rates dramatically.” In touching on the importance of having a multi-channel presence, we discussed the rejuvenation of postal as it relates to personalization. Anecdotally, Bart brought up an Alumni Campaign through FullContact, in which knowledge on where someone attended college can be used to physically mail collateral, leading to increased engagement. Apparently, going the extra mile really does lead to better results. In our last chapter of the discussion, Bart touched on how social selling can be best utilized in today’s market. In his opinion, sales representatives as thought leaders of content in their space ensures better outreach engagement. As opposed to pushing your product, you’re educating. As part of our closing thoughts, Bart had one final message: “there’s no shortcut to this, the more you can personalize and be thoughtful, and then consistently execute that thoughtfulness, the more successful you’ll be”.

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