XI Technologies: Why data is key for service companies dealing with today’s business development challenges

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Each week, XI Technologies scans their unique combination of enhanced industry data to provide trends and insights that have value for professionals doing business in the WCSB. If you’d like to receive our Wednesday Word to the Wise in your inbox, subscribe here.

For the past 18 months, we’ve all had to adjust the way we do business, often multiple times in the face of changing mandates, precautions, and pandemic waves. Much of the early focus of these changes were on things like managing field operations safely while observing distancing guidelines or managing office staff via online chats rather than meeting rooms and office pop-ins. But another part of the industry affected by this are the business development teams of service and supply companies needing to make connections and find opportunities in a more isolated world.

For many services companies, BD has traditionally been a face-to-face business. Deals were done over lunch or at a coffee and reconnecting with people was as simple as running into contacts in the plus 15s. 18 months of off-and-on work from home policies and coffee shops hauling chairs in and out of dining areas have closed off opportunities. Some of this can be supplemented by patios and Zoom, but there’s no doubt that these challenging times call for new, innovative, and strategic approaches to business development and sales.

The answer could be a more proactive approach to business development, taking advantage of the type of data that has revolutionized the A&D world to find and win potential contracts. Using this data can help quickly identify players in an area, targeting companies most likely to need a service provider’s particular services and researching potential solutions based on their unique production, land, liability, or other strategic initiatives.

As an example, bit companies determining operators most likely to begin drilling would find expiring land data useful. An environmental company looking for companies to target would find it helpful to know when abandonment/reclamation liabilities are coming due. A company specializing in production enhancement would want an easy way to identify low or non-producing wells.

Beyond simply finding opportunities, strategic business development can also help lower the cost of sales by taking advantage of warm leads or opportunities right next door. For example, if you have crews in an area and want to cut down on transportation costs, it makes sense to reach out to operators within close proximity or the partners of the operator you are already working for to see if they have other sites nearby.

Service and supply companies can better position themselves by unlocking public data and helping companies to spot trends, identify opportunities, and devise solutions. Coming to a meeting armed with the appropriate information about your prospective client’s operations, challenges, and opportunities not only shows you know your stuff, but that you care enough about their business and success to have done your homework.

As one of Canada’s best and most accessible sources of public data, XI is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, November 2^nd to demonstrate how a service and supply company can use AssetBook to quickly and easily identify prospects or prepare for a meeting with prospective companies anywhere in the WCSB. Click here to register for the webinar or contact us for a demo.