I’m delighted to say that Andrew Scott, MD of Insight Data, has put finger to keyboard for me to give us all a guest post! Enjoy!

Most people in the glass and glazing industry will have heard of Insight Data, but most don’t realise how the business has transformed the way hundreds of companies manage their sales and marketing activities and revolutionised lead generation and customer engagement.

Insight Data was the brainchild of well-known window industry expert Andrew Scott. Andrew started in the industry in 1986, originally as a software developer for a glass company before joining Ian Harrison (Saturn Windows/Speedframe), where he moved into sales and marketing. During the last 25 years Andrew has acquired, built and sold a number of companies across the industry.

He created the business and marketing strategy that turned Cambrian Windows from a small rural commercial fabricator in West Wales into one of the country’s most successful and profitable trade fabricators. From a standing start in the trade sector, Cambrian grew from £0 to £12million annual turnover in less than 5 years, manufacturing over 2,000 frames per week with almost 20% net profit.

Andrew trained at Cranfield School of Management, is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management and a qualified member of the Institute of Direct Marketing. So, he knows a thing or two about business growth and marketing.

Over the years Andrew used various data lists within marketing campaigns, but was always frustrated with the poor quality of data. In addition, he realised that the way companies held and managed data meant even correct data become out-of-date within weeks. So, in 2006, he decided to pull his experience and launch Insight Data.

“I wasn’t interested in supplying data, I was interested in helping companies find and win new customers quickly and cost-effectively” explains Andrew; “there are dozens of data suppliers and list brokers out there, but data – even quality data – is only half the battle. It is the way data is used that makes all the difference.”

Salestracker live CRM technology

Andrews’s vision was to create a solution that enabled users to pro-activity manage sales and marketing activities using in-depth market intelligence updated in real-time.
Two years later, in 2008, Insight Data launched Salestracker, the world’s first live CRM system with data updated in real-time. Now with over 600 users worldwide, Salestracker is the NO. 1 prospect and customer management software and the system has helped hundreds of companies completely transform how they run their sales and marketing operations.

As an online database system there is no software to install or run. Users simply log-in to Salestracker from any internet enabled desktop PC/Mac, laptop, or mobile device and access the most accurate, in-depth market intelligence that helps companies pinpoint and target new customers. Salestracker contains detailed information on all 15,000 window, door and conservatory companies in the UK and Ireland, as well as architects, small builders and ‘white van man’, main contractors and house-builders.

Within a few seconds, users can build a highly targeted prospect list for direct mail, email or telesales. For example, a list of companies in London who install aluminium bi-fold doors using Beaufort aluminium profile, or a list of PVC-U fabricators manufacturing under 250 frames per week.

Salestracker can be used by managers, marketing people and sales people on-the-road, who can access the system live on their laptop or iPad (with a 3G signal). Users can then use Salestracker to manage leads, track customer engagement, set tasks and reminders, attach documents (such as quotes or call reports) and much more. But, what goes on behind the scenes is the really clever part.

When they say live data, they mean it!

The more accurate and targeted your data, the more successful your sales and marketing results are. That’s why Insight has the largest market research team in the industry, making over 200,000 telephone calls every year to interview and update the contacts on the Insight database.  A state-of-the-art call centre system with fibre-optic networks was installed in 2010 that links the call centre directly to Salestracker.

Salestracker also has a network of ‘live’ feeds. This includes information on new business start-ups from Companies House and Experian, and an integrated credit reference file that dovetails with the Insight database to flag important information such as liquidations or major changes such as company directors. All records on the database get mailed and emailed on average every 3 – 4 weeks with a closed-loop returns process that updates records that are ‘gone aways’ or have email hard bounces.

Then the Insight compliance team continuously assess and monitor the data to ensure that records are accurate, relevant and verified. The entire research, cleansing and management of the data happens in real-time, and the results are fed directly into Salestracker.

With over 1,200 changes to the fabricator and installer database every month, their approach to data management simply means every time you carry out direct mail, email or telesales activities you can be sure of the very best results.

Never standing still

Along the way, Insight Data was awarded outright winners of the Government backed Enterprise Agency ‘Business of the Year’ award for its innovation and technology, and was awarded full member status of the Direct Marketing Association and the Glass and Glazing Federation.

2013 looks set to be another exciting year for the company, as it unveils an all-new version of Salestracker which promises to take another leap forward in helping companies target new customers in the trade, commercial and new-build sectors.
Salestracker and the Insight databases are available on monthly license. For full details visit www.insightdata.co.uk or call 01934 808293.