Executing a Scalable ABM Strategy With Cognism

A cutting-edge London-based PropTech company uses Cognism’s sales intelligence platform to:

• Inform a successful ABM strategy 
• Create targeted matched audiences on LinkedIn 
• Refresh the CRM database every six months 
• Find companies with high buying signals using Cognism’s Intent Data

Website: www.metrikus.io
Number of employees: 40
Industry: PropTech
HQ: London, UK
Teams using: Demand Generation & Sales 

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The company

Metrikus is a market-leading building efficiency software platform that helps businesses understand and optimise their building's environment, maintenance, usage and health. 

Working with the likes of GSK, NHS and The Met Office. The smart building platform combines multiple data sources and sensors to provide revolutionary insights, helping workplace managers make better-informed sustainable decisions on their buildings.

The challenge

We interviewed Derayo Adetosoye, Marketing Manager at Metrikus, supporting offices in London, India, USA and Spain. 

How did Metrikus previously source new business?  

“We weren’t using any B2B lead generation tools before Cognism. New business was predominantly sourced from referrals, word-of-mouth, events and the website.” 

How did they discover Cognism?

“We are members of Pavilion, a global community for high-growth leaders in a variety of functions including sales and marketing. Cognism was recommended to us from a credible Pavilion member.” 

“From my findings, Cognism has always been a key player in the SaaS space especially on LinkedIn. Cognism’s subject matter expert, Ryan Reisert, is a highly powerful asset to engaging audiences with valuable sales content.”

“Additionally, Cognism was ranked in the top Google keyword search for how SDRs fit into marketing. Cognism’s educational content is fantastic for informing me about trends in the market and ultimately sparked my interest in a demo.” 

Derayo praised the Cognism sales experience. 

“The stakeholder management in the sales process was superb. The AE demonstrated the benefits of the platform to the end-users and senior management. They also tailored the value of the platform to both our marketing and sales teams.” 

Did Metrikus consider any other B2B data providers in the evaluation process?

“We considered ZoomInfo and Lusha. After trialling all three platforms, Cognism’s US data outperformed the others. I also found the UX/UI of the platform easier to understand.” 

“Thirdly, Cognism’s Intent Data partnership with Bombora was the final piece of the jigsaw. All of these collective features ultimately led to our decision to have Cognism as our B2B data vendor of choice.”

The solution

At Metrikus, the Demand Generation and Sales teams use Cognism and work very closely together. 

Derayo explained his role in the demand generation team. 

“I lead the demand generation function running the company events, content creation, CRM system, liaising with our external paid ads agency and our internal partnerships team.”

What is their target market? 

“We target sustainability, workplace and property managers in large multinational businesses. Our core regions are EMEA, North America, Spain and India.” 

The Demand Generation team uses Cognism in the following four ways: 

1. To inform their ABM strategy 

“We use Cognism’s data to find the best accounts that fit our ICP. I use the hiring trigger to search for organisations that have been hiring for relevant job titles in the last six months. This gives us a clear indication that the business is looking to scale in our space. The hiring feature is a really promising buying signal for us.”

“Hardly any other SaaS tools on the market provide this level of detail in prospect searches, which makes Cognism very unique.”

“Cognism has played a key role in informing our ABM strategy.” 

2. Leveraging intent data 

“We use intent data by tracking 25 key topics. Our highest intent data topic is smart buildings. Once I’ve searched for the topic and then filtered our ICP, I find the desired contacts on LinkedIn.” 

“An additional second data point is if the organisation has recently been in the press about changing their sustainability strategy or if they’ve recently moved offices.”

3. Refreshing and enriching their database  

“Every six months, we perform a data audit. I pull all the data and optimise the contacts in the Cognism platform. This refreshed data is then pushed back into the Hubspot CRM.” 

“Cognism’s refreshed data is powerful. Here’s an example: when we do lead generation content, we don’t want the forms on our landing pages to be cumbersome for the prospect. Therefore, we only ask the individual for their email address and first name. This is because I can search for up-to-date information about the individual in the Cognism platform once they’ve filled in the form.” 

“Cognism’s extensive database of prospect information enables us to only request minimal information on the landing page. This hugely helps improve landing page conversion rates.”

4. Paid ads on LinkedIn 

“We use Cognism for LinkedIn matched audiences on the partner side of the business. I generate email addresses in the Cognism database and upload them to LinkedIn.” 

“We don’t use LinkedIn’s native targeting because the reach is too broad and we want to be granular. Cognism does exactly this and is the best data provider for our LinkedIn paid ads.” 

The sales team consists of AEs. Derayo explained their workflows with the platform. 

“The SDRs conduct a combination of calling and emailing in their day-to-day outbound efforts. I generate the data on their behalf and push the leads into a HubSpot automated sequence for them to start prospecting from.” 

“Here’s an example: if a company is looking for a workplace technology partner, the marketing team will find a piece of content on a relevant topic related to this persona. We’ll then craft a bespoke email on this theme and run the sequence in HubSpot for the SDRs to action.” 

The AEs also prospect with Cognism’s Chrome Extension.

“The AEs use the LinkedIn API plug-in daily. Cognism’s integrated Diamond Data® feature in the API is fantastic for cold calling and far more conversations are generated as a result!”

The results

Metrikus has seen quantifiable results from Cognism’s premium database. 

“I can’t disclose specific figures but Cognism has largely contributed to our pipeline of opportunities.”

“We obtain many leads from online and offline event follow-ups. Firstly, we obtain the first name, second name and organisation name of the contact. The information is then inputted into Cognism. Once the contact information has been generated in the platform, we run outbound sequences around the event content.”

“At Metrikus, we wouldn’t be able to run our post-event follow-ups if it wasn’t for Cognism.”

Derayo recommends Cognism for the following reasons:

1. Intent data to inform an ABM strategy

“Having Cognism’s buyer-led intent data powered by Bombora to find companies that are in demand for our services is really powerful. It’s rare to have a software platform that provides both intent data and a filtering search functionality all-in-one.”

2. Verified data 

“Highly accurate email addresses and human-verified mobile numbers are the oil to our sales engine!” 

3. Best in-class B2B data tool 

“Compared to Lusha and ZoomInfo, Cognism has the best level of high-quality, compliant data on the market.” 

“Cognism is very forward-thinking and there are no other tools on the market that provide the breadth of features available all in one succinct platform.”