Damballa uses RainKing to turbocharge sales pipeline

The larger the organization, the tougher it is to zero in on the executive who can make a decision on your product or service. You can spend a lot of valuable time talking to the wrong person only to learn that as interested as he might be, he has no influence over the purchase.

That was the challenge facing Fred Go, Director of Marketing for Damballa. Damballa is an Internet security company that focuses on anti-botnet security, and the company's prospects are Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies in the U.S.

"We had used a couple of commercial databases, but they just offered individual names, titles and contact information," says Go. "With the kinds of large organizations we're targeting, we really needed more accurate organizational structures and contact information - who reports to whom, who's in charge of what, and who's on whose team."

They got it. Damballa began using RainKing. RainKing's web-based service puts clients in charge of a suite of powerful tools to penetrate the IT structure at top corporations. Based on constantly updated intelligence by a team of smart, experienced research analysts, RainKing delivers precise and accurate contact data and intelligence on the key managers and buyers of technology services and products. It maps out the technology decision making process, including who reports to whom and which hardware, software and technology systems individual decision makers manage or control. It even alerts you to specific projects within these firms.

Immediate results with RainKing

RainKing immediately made a difference, says Go. "Now, when we generate a lead through our website or a webinar, our inside sales team goes in and sees if that's the right decision maker. And if it's not, they can quickly see who is, so they can make the right calls up the organizational structure. Being able to visualize the organizational structure of each company we're targeting and seeing who belongs to what tier is invaluable."

He says that ability has saved substantial time and energy. "In one case, we were talking with a particular person in IT who we thought was the right contact. But by looking into RainKing, we quickly realized this person's interested, but he's not really the key decision maker. And we were able to use him to quickly connect to the decision maker."

He continues, "That's real value from RainKing right away. Our inside sales team has been extremely happy with the accuracy and the timeliness of the data in RainKing."

Go's initial marketing forays using RainKing's proprietary Prediction Engine have also impressed him. By selecting custom and weighted criteria, including such elements as competing firms, relevant technologies, and important keywords, Go receives a scientifically ranked plan of attack allowing him to hit top-priority targets first. "The Prediction Engine is proving really powerful," he says "It made it remarkably easy for us to prioritize and target the right people."

RainKing also alerts him to new developments and opportunities within target organizations, says Go. The daily First Alert delivers daily updates on management changes, among other intelligence, directly to his inbox. "It's extremely valuable to know that a certain company has a certain project - which probably means they have a budget for it." He laughs. "We get updates pretty much as they happen, and those become our top priorities."

Since starting to use RainKing in January of 2010, Damballa has seen a surge in sales opportunities. "It could be timing or coincidence, but there is a dramatic uptick in meetings over the same period last year," says Go.