Jakub Schubert: How Prospector Helps Sales Reps Find Companies in Seconds

Jakub Schubert is one of the newest members of our sales team. In this interview, he talked about how things have been going for him over the past few months and how Prospector helps him work more efficiently and quickly gain valuable insights about companies. "I used to spend up to an hour searching for details about individual companies, browsing their websites, tracking current events, and researching various available sources. And yet I never had as complete a picture as Prospector gives me in moments," he says.

Read the interview about how he works with Prospector and what he can uncover about companies using it.

You joined BizMachine in November. How do you look back on your early days, and was there anything that surprised you?

I look back very positively because I had wanted to work at BizMachine for a long time. I already knew from my previous job that data was important, but it was only here that I began to understand its true potential. Here I can experience firsthand how our data helps with B2B sales. And if it helps me, it can help our clients in the same way. People sometimes don't even realize how much data is available today, and that when you put it together correctly, it can produce interesting parameters that really help companies in their business. Especially when looking for the right B2B prospects.

You're talking about Prospector now... How has this tool helped you?

Enormously. In less than five months, it helped me land six clients, which I never could have done that quickly without it. When I joined BizMachine, I had a goal to acquire my first client within three months. Thanks in part to Prospector, I managed it in six weeks.

So what did your work in Prospector look like?

At the very beginning, I was looking for companies that might want to use Prospector. I looked at companies with at least 4 salespeople. From this team size up, our Prospector delivers significant added value. But that alone isn't enough information to prepare a tailored offer. So I added more criteria. I searched for companies using a CRM, because we can integrate that beautifully with Prospector, adding even more value for salespeople.

Then I researched what the company does and whether it has any connections to other companies. Finally, I focused on companies that have contacts for specific people, typically the sales director, CEO, or marketing director. I can find all of this very quickly with Prospector. Even with advanced filtering, it takes me under 15 minutes.

When I joined BizMachine, I had a goal to acquire my first client within three months. Thanks in part to Prospector, I managed it in six weeks.

How long did it take you to learn to work this quickly in Prospector?

About a week.

That seems like a pretty short time...

Prospector is very intuitive. The more you work with it, the faster you discover everything you can uncover and what features it offers.

What else can you find out about companies using it?

The interconnectedness of data is also interesting. For example, when financial statements aren't publicly available, you can still read a company's financial situation in Prospector — for instance, through their vehicle fleet. Here's an example: when I see that a company has registered premium cars like BMW, Mercedes, or Audi and buys them in larger numbers, it's clear they have some money. And that can be useful for a sales proposal.

I see, but that's probably not all. I was intrigued by the contacts for specific people.

So do I need to know exactly what company I'm looking for?

Do you enjoy exploring what companies reveal about themselves to the world?

That's certainly interesting, but what I enjoy even more is customizing data for our clients so it helps them as much as possible. Sometimes we come up with unexpected ideas and inspirations.

Do you have an example?

Recently I had an interesting client meeting with a company that operates in cybersecurity. During this meeting, we discovered that using information obtained from Prospector, we could easily create a company rating based on their susceptibility to cyber risks.

It's clear that you work with Prospector every day. Could you imagine your work without it?

I could, but I definitely wouldn't want to (laughs). I have experience from my previous job where I worked without such a tool, and I know everything would take much longer. For example, when preparing for a meeting, I had to spend about an hour searching for information about a company, browsing their website, news, and various available sources. In the end, I didn't even come close to having the comprehensive picture that Prospector gives me in moments.

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Prospector can also be used to identify untapped potential within a customer portfolio. Based on similarities across various areas such as industry, revenue, or size, you can create your own scoring system and identify companies with untapped potential. So if two companies are very similar but one spends less with me than the other, it's clear that salespeople should focus more on that company. In other words, it's simply possible to find out which companies could be buying more if they were better targeted or motivated.