Episode 131 of the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast features Joshua Feinberg, CEO at DCSMI.
- Define an ideal client profile for data center businesses
- Identify key buyer personas across different data center market segments
- Develop a go-to-market strategy that addresses the 83% self-driven buyer's journey
- Create educational content that builds trust with potential clients
- Position your team as subject matter experts and trusted advisors
- Map out decision-making committees in complex technology purchases
- Find and engage potential investment opportunities
- Craft messaging that resonates with specific professional goals and challenges
- Improve product market penetration in the data center ecosystem
- Design outreach approaches that provide genuine value to prospects and founders
Host:
Joshua Feinberg, CEO
DCSMI
Joshua Feinberg discusses strategies for improving go-to-market and sales meetings for various data center sectors. For disaster recovery and backup solutions providers, he emphasizes understanding client profiles, geographic targeting, and segmentation. Wholesale data center providers should focus on client education, aligning with ideal client profiles, and leveraging educational events. Interconnection infrastructure firms need to help clients envision off-site opportunities, considering geography, company size, and industry.
Modular data center providers should identify decision committees and align with their goals. Venture capital firms should build strong professional brands through thought leadership and consistent engagement. Joshua Feinberg discusses the importance of VCs positioning themselves as trusted advisors and subject matter experts to founders. He emphasizes defining an ideal founder profile, considering geographic location, investment stage, and industry segment within the data center ecosystem.
Feinberg highlights the need for VCs to understand founders' goals and challenges, and to provide valuable insights through content, events, and outbound outreach. He also mentions the role of scouts in identifying innovative companies and the significance of building a strong professional brand to attract founders. The discussion concludes with a call to action for VCs to engage proactively with the data center community.
Action Items
- Define the ideal client profile for disaster recovery and backup solutions.
- Determine if disaster recovery and backup solutions are one or two different lines of business.
- Identify the geographic, company size, and industry factors for the ideal client profile.
- Document the primary and secondary buyer personas for disaster recovery and backup solutions.
- Understand the goals and challenges of the buyer personas in their own words.
- Define the ideal client profile for an interconnection infrastructure firm.
- Identify the key people and buyer personas that care most about interconnection infrastructure.
- Document the ideal startup/scale-up profile for a digital infrastructure VC firm.
Outline
Understanding Ideal Clients and Geographic Focus
- Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of identifying ideal clients to create awareness and build trust effectively.
- Geographic focus is crucial for field marketing, events, ads, and staffing sales and support teams.
- The discussion highlights the need to understand where ideal clients are located to tailor marketing strategies.
- The conversation sets the stage for addressing sales and marketing challenges in the data center ecosystem.
Introduction to the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast
- Joshua Feinberg introduces the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast, targeting various roles in the data center industry.
- The podcast aims to address sales and marketing challenges faced by data center operators, technology providers, and related companies.
- Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the DCSMI newsletter for updates on educational resources and events.
- The agenda for the week includes topics on disaster recovery, interconnection infrastructure, wholesale data centers, and modular data centers.
Improving Go-to-Market and Sales Meetings for Disaster Recovery Providers
- Disaster recovery and backup solutions are often combined, with some companies offering infrastructure services.
- The discussion differentiates between technology-focused and real estate-focused disaster recovery solutions.
- The importance of understanding the homogeneity of the client list is highlighted, with potential segmentation strategies.
- Key elements of the ideal client profile (ICP) include geographic location, company size, and industry specifics.
Segmenting and Understanding Buyer Personas
- The conversation delves into the importance of segmenting clients and understanding buyer personas.
- Primary and secondary buyer personas are identified, along with potential negative buyer personas.
- Research methods to understand buyer personas' goals and challenges are discussed, including face-to-face interviews, surveys, and LinkedIn profiles.
- The discussion emphasizes the need for clear, customer-focused marketing and sales enablement strategies.
The Shift to Self-Driven Buyer's Journey
- The impact of the self-driven buyer's journey on sales processes is discussed, with a shift from 56% to 83% of the journey happening before sales contact.
- The importance of educating and building trust with prospects early in the journey is highlighted.
- Traditional sales roles need to evolve to become more like teachers, consultants, and subject matter experts.
- The conversation stresses the need for cultural changes in sales and marketing to adapt to the new buyer's journey.
Improving Client Education for Wholesale Data Center Providers
- Wholesale data center providers need to be client-centric, understanding ideal clients' geographic locations, company sizes, and industries.
- The discussion includes the importance of understanding the decision-making process and key stakeholders.
- Educational events, guides, and resources are recommended to build trust and educate clients early in the process.
- The goal is to position the company as the go-to resource for wholesale data center solutions.
Product Market Penetration for Data Center Design Firms
- Data center design, engineering, and consulting firms need to adapt to the self-driven buyer's journey.
- The importance of building a strong professional brand through educational content and events is emphasized.
- The conversation highlights the need for a clear ideal client profile and target account list.
- Strategies for aligning multiple stakeholders within a decision committee are discussed.
Finding Decision Makers for Modular Data Center Providers
- Modular data center providers need to identify multiple decision makers within a company.
- The discussion includes the use of LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other research methods to understand decision committees.
- The importance of being client-focused and understanding the goals and challenges of key stakeholders is highlighted.
- Educational resources and events are recommended to engage multiple stakeholders and build trust.
Venture Capital Firms Finding Data Center Investment Opportunities
- Venture capital firms need to build strong professional brands through thought leadership and educational content.
- The importance of understanding the ideal founder profile and geographic focus is discussed.
- The conversation emphasizes the need for VCs to position themselves as trusted advisors and subject matter experts.
- Strategies for engaging with founders and entrepreneurs early in the process are highlighted.
Understanding Investment Stages and Company Types
- Unknown Speaker discusses the importance of knowing the investment stage of a company, whether it's seed, Series A, or Series B.
- The complexity of the governance structure within the data center ecosystem is highlighted.
- DCSMI catalogs 52 different kinds of companies around the data center ecosystem, including operators, technology companies, facility-related companies, and more.
- The types of data center-related businesses most likely to seek venture funding are identified as operators, technology companies, or facility-related companies.
Evaluating Investment Opportunities Based on Expertise
- The decision to invest in a company should be based on the VC firm's expertise and the alignment with the company's needs.
- If a VC firm has roots in the hyperscaler world, they can invest in companies doing transformative or disruptive work for hyperscalers.
- If a company is working with liquid natural gas, a VC firm without expertise in data center energy might choose to pass on the investment.
- The importance of documenting the ideal startup profile and understanding the primary buyer persona is emphasized.
Identifying and Addressing Founders' Needs
- Understanding the primary buyer persona and their biggest goals and frustrations is crucial for making informed investment decisions.
- Identifying adjacent goals and challenges that founders are currently facing helps in intercepting them early and often.
- The goal is to be seen as a VC who brings valuable insights and impact, not just another VC.
- Founders go through multiple touchpoints in the funding process, and VCs should provide helpful, unique expertise at each stage.
Content and Thought Leadership Approach
- VCs should bring their portfolio companies together for group learning and professional development.
- The same research and content used to attract founders pre-funding should also support their growth post-funding.
- Educational resources, webinars, and speaking appearances should address both pre-funding and post-funding challenges.
- VCs should provide ongoing support through educational events and professional development sessions.
Outbound Approach and Building Professional Brand
- Defining the ideal startup profile helps in building a list of startups to target with outbound outreach.
- Using educational resources to initiate contact with potential startups can be effective.
- Speaking at conferences, webinars, and podcasts, and maintaining a strong LinkedIn presence helps in building a professional brand.
- The goal is to build a strong professional brand that founders see as the best VC to partner with.
Scouting and Identifying Hidden Talent
- Scouts, who are connected to research institutions and academia, can identify upcoming innovations in the data center ecosystem.
- Digital infrastructure VCs can have partners and extensions that scout for new investment opportunities.
- The importance of uncovering hidden talent and identifying companies that nobody is talking about is highlighted.
- A combination of inbound and outbound strategies, along with a strong professional brand, is essential for success.
Building Trust and Educating Founders
- VCs should educate and build trust with founders, just as they would with prospects, clients, potential employees, and channel partners.
- The better job VCs do in educating and building trust, the more likely founders are to see them as the best VC to partner with.
- The importance of not all funding being created equal and the impact of different board members is discussed.
- VCs should aim to be seen as the best VC to partner with by providing valuable insights and support.
Final Thoughts and Call to Action
- The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to hit the like button, leave comments, and subscribe to the newsletter.
- Listeners are encouraged to connect on LinkedIn and share their thoughts on the most helpful content.
- Joshua Feinberg from DC SMI thanks the audience and invites them to join the next episode.
- The podcast is sponsored by DCSMI, which aims to elevate the role of sales and marketing professionals in the data center industry.
Resources
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