How Service Providers Can Use G2 Buyer Intent to Win the Right Clients

Lead generation and building pipeline are pretty important for most businesses. But for service providers, the quality of those leads really matters.

Providers often have unique challenges selling their services because they don’t have enough talent or time to devote to engaging prospects. Limited resources mean they can only delight so many clients and dilute their value if they close on too many leads. Building pipeline has to find a balance in sourcing the best opportunities.

Sales is all about timing. Even when you’re confident that your offerings are the best on the market, suboptimal timing can be the difference between closing a deal and missing the mark.

The reality is that a tiny percentage of your ideal prospects are ready to buy from you. Only 5% of buyers are in-market at any given time, meaning you must be efficient to acquire the right leads.

The challenge becomes figuring out how to identify buyers that are in-market right now and having the best information to engage them with pinpoint precision. In this article, we’ll dive into how G2 helps service providers target prospects more likely to close with intent data.

The unique challenges for service providers

Providing services for software is layered and complex. Understanding and engaging software buyers must align with a provider's expertise, whether implementing, managing, supporting, or acting as a reseller.

Implementing, supporting, and consulting on software involves more than just technical know-how. It requires a deep understanding of a client's business processes, industry nuances, and the ability to tailor the solution to meet their specific needs. Helping clients as a service provider means less of a transactional exchange, as building and fostering relationships is fundamental to making clients successful.

What’s more, sourcing ideal buyers can be particularly tough. Referrals are often the lifeblood of a service provider, but revenue growth isn’t achievable if you don’t maximize and explore your options to find leads and new business opportunities.

It can be hard to know who is in-market for your particular area of expertise or is exploring a near-term purchase of related software. Here’s a look at the most hurdles service providers must overcome in attracting prospective clients.

• Tapping into niche markets with specialized expertise: Because a service provider's expertise is so specialized, their ideal buyers are unique. This specialized knowledge makes it harder to find potential leads that match the specific requirements for those services. This narrows the pool of potential buyers significantly, adding an extra layer of difficulty in sourcing the right buyers.
• Over-reliance on ecosystem partners: Many service providers who specialize in a particular software or technology have historically relied on building 1:1 relationships with sales reps at the software company they provide service for. While this can be great when you’re the favored partner, it also means you’re not in control of your pipeline. And in some cases, the truth is that you might not be the favored partner. This can become tricky, especially if communicating with prospects your leadership over your top competitors.  
• Making the best of long sales cycles: Software buying isn’t quick. For service providers targeting buyers implementing a new solution, getting in front of the company before the deal is even closed, and ensuring that your services are part of their planning process can be advantageous.
• Establishing trust and credibility: Building trust and credibility is crucial for any service provider. Prospective clients need confidence that you have the expertise and track record to get them the results and ROI they need with a given software.

How G2 connects service providers with software buyers who need them

With so many choices in a given software category, it’s easy to see why buyers have turned to online reviews when researching new solutions. Think about the last time you bought something online in the last year and consider just how synonymous reviews have become with the online shopping experience.

G2 has more than 2M verified reviews and is the world’s largest marketplace for B2B software, making it a leading source of intel for software decision-makers.

Implementation is a big consideration for software buyers as well. When a tool is complex or internal resources are limited, some companies need to lean on the expertise of service providers to ensure they’re getting the most out of their investment.

On G2, they can also browse for related service providers alongside their software research process, plus find reviews on dozens of other services to grow their business.

Millions of B2B buyers use G2 to research the products and services they need. One way you can connect with them is by creating or claiming your profile on G2 so they can find your services.

But, what if there was a way to see who those buyers are and gain insight into what they are shopping for – even if they don’t reach out to you directly? That’s where intent data comes in.

What is buyer intent?

Imagine you know which companies are in-market for services like yours or a specific software for which you can provide your unique expertise. Also, imagine if you could serve them custom content with persuasive messaging at precise moments throughout their purchasing journey and surface contact information to reach the right decision-makers. That’s the advantage of having intent data at your disposal.

Also known as buyer intent, intent data consists of signals or data points that help determine if an account is in-market and how far along they are in their buying journey. Intent data has immense value because it removes a lot of the guesswork associated with marketing and sales campaigns.

The idea is simple; we can infer a ton about visitors by examining how they use a site like G2 or browse the internet. For example, if someone initiates a search for “best ERP software,” there’s a good chance they’ll click on an organic result pointing to this software category page on G2.

Because this is a broader keyword, we can confidently say that this person is likely in the very early phases of research.

Breaking down the basics of G2 Buyer Intent

Intent data is an excellent data source to fuel your account outreach strategy. It uncovers which companies are actively researching solutions like yours and other aspects of their buying journey. With G2 Buyer Intent, you can leverage this data in 3 ways.

1. Identify in-market accounts actively researching your category, product, or competitors. This also includes revealing accounts you’ve worked with previously that are in-market once again.
2. Segment accounts based on G2 intent signals, industries, locations, personas, or whatever criteria you choose. More specifically, you can also see which software products and services they’re researching. 
3. Prevent churn by regularly checking the pulse of existing customers.

More importantly, G2 Buyer Intent data provides unique insights that enable your sales team to prioritize accounts more likely to convert. This data gives you an exclusive look at how your prospects use the world’s largest marketplace for B2B software.

G2 Buyer Intent use cases for service providers

Access to the right intelligence, data, and tools to act on that information can give you a significant advantage. When identifying revenue opportunities, intent data can be tremendously valuable.  

Service providers can use this data to uncover new business and revenue growth opportunities. Let’s dive into some specific use cases.

Uncovering who’s in-market for your services (or about to be)

The most important use case for service providers using G2 Buyer Intent is revealing which companies are most interested in their services. The most obvious signal would be visits to your profile, but there’s more beneath the surface.

Let’s say that you specialize in HubSpot implementation and provide consulting services. You can identify companies viewing your profile, but also companies researching HubSpot, Hubspot Implementers, marketing automation tools, and CRM software.

If you have a specific target buyer, ICP filters allow you to find companies that match your ideal customer profile (ICP). Choose from different criteria, such as market segment and company size, to align the data to your ICP. Once you know which companies are active, begin prospecting to identify contacts at those companies to offer your services. G2 can even provide suggested contacts.

Finding right-fit companies

Service providers can get a lot out of G2 Buyer Intent by targeting companies actively researching software they support. Then, G2 Stack technographic data takes things up a notch by showing you the tech stack of active buyers.

Let’s say you provide a set list of services for buyers who are current customers of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud. G2 Stack data reveals specific in-market companies that already use these products. With this intelligence in hand, you can engage decision-makers at these companies and highlight how your services can alleviate common pain points.

Improving client retention and engaging previous clients

Intent data improves the effectiveness of your new business efforts. However, it can also be an indispensable method for identifying clients who are shopping around for a new provider, or past clients who are back in the market.

Suppose you spot a current client active in your own category. In that case, intent signals such as Competitor and Alternative Comparison Page visits can tip you off that your team should check in with these clients to understand if your services provide the value they need.

In the long run, it’s better to address and potentially mitigate the chance of churn, especially if you’re a vendor that provides ongoing support, like digital marketing management, rather than a one-time project like a new software implementation.

In the same vein, intent data can give you a second chance to engage clients your company worked with previously. Consider that this includes monitoring former or lost clients who are back in the market after poor results from working with a lower-quality vendor or attempting to build in-house.  

Service providers spend a lot of energy building strong relationships, so reaching out to these former clients makes sense if the intent data suggests the timing is just right.

Getting a leg up on the competition with intent data

Considering that most of your target prospects are not in-market right now, it’s best to focus your efforts on buyers who are ready to buy. Whether it’s identifying current customers of software you support or engaging accounts exploring new software for their needs, service providers can reach the right buyers with intent data. 

Another key consideration is that intent data targeting buyers in specific software ecosystems is relatively new, providing fresh opportunities for providers.

As buying cycles become increasingly complex, it’s important to experiment with new channels and evaluate technology that can help keep one step ahead of your competitors. G2 Buyer Intent gives you insider insights about your target buyers to help you book more meetings, win more deals, and connect at the right moments.

Ready to target buyers with surgical precision? Explore how G2 Buyer Intent can help you achieve your sales and revenue goals through unique insights you won’t find anywhere else.