One of the world’s largest staffing firms used Cognism’s intent data to:
- Increase their B2B mailing list from 0 to 28,000 contacts
- Identify prospects at the right time in their buying journey
- Cut time prospecting and focus on closing new business
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The company
Founded in 1946, Kelly Services is a global recruitment company with offices in North America, EMEA and APAC. Their teams place over one million people in jobs every year and 90 Fortune 100 companies trust them with their talent expertise.
The firm connects talent with great companies in fields including Science, Engineering, Office, Light Industrial, Education, and more. Its vision is to be the most creative, insightful, and agile talent company, committed to uniting vital talent with great organisations.
The challenge
Kelly Services has been a customer since 2019. We spoke to the UK Sales Enablement Lead and Sales Development Manager, about their experiences with Cognism.
How did Kelly Services find out about Cognism?
“We were looking at different ways of finding data because identifying data is vital to identifying and targeting the people we wanted to target. It’s never easy and our goal was to focus on finding a solution that provided us with relevant data for our target audience, avoiding irrelevant or excessive data.”
“Our Sales Director was impressed by Cognism’s presence on various social channels. In addition to this, he received several cold emails from a Cognism sales rep. This sparked his interest in learning more about how Cognism could assist with generating new business.”
What challenges were Kelly Services experiencing prior to Cognism?
“We previously used Dun & Bradstreet for lead generation. We were mailing contacts from the chosen list but the emails were invalid. Ultimately, we were receiving 0 contacts in our mailing list and the ROI was not being met.”
“You can search for data in a number of ways, but it’s time-consuming and you can’t guarantee you’ll get the right data. We knew the type of contact we were looking for in the companies we were targeting and needed a tool that enabled us to identify those people a lot easier and a lot quicker.”
What was their process of evaluation?
“We looked at a few options, then we saw a demo where we were given some examples of the types of data we wanted, from the types of customers we worked with, in the types of industries we target.”
“We could see the results when the search was happening. We could see the quality and amount of information we’d have access to and thought it could help us target our ICP.”
“Our goal is to have a B2B presence and in order to achieve this we need to be hitting people's inboxes. This motivated us to look at other innovative lead generation tools in the market like Cognism.”
The solution
The interviewee manages three Business Development Managers (BDMs) in the UK and her team takes a vertical approach to their lead generation efforts. Each employee specialises in either the life sciences, engineering or renewables sector.
What is Kelly Service's target market?
“We target four levels of seniority in CxOs, Talent Acquisition, HR and individual departments depending on the size of the company. Our approach is to obtain a valid contact within each level of seniority.”
The Sales Development Manager added:
“Our sales team primarily focuses on life science businesses, engineering and renewables and contact centres. So we know that in those businesses, the people responsible for recruitment are usually Procurement if it’s large, RFPs. If it’s smaller recruitment volumes, then it could potentially be HR or Talent Acquisition.”
What is a typical daily workflow for the BDMs?
“They mainly use email and LinkedIn InMail as their core outreaching tools. They will also call up warm prospects. The team utilises the Cognism Chrome Extension daily to source core contacts for their specific segment.”
How do the Sales Team uses the Chrome Extension:
“I typically use the Chrome Extension in tandem with Sales Navigator. First, I search for potential contacts on Sales Navigator, identifying individuals I want to engage with. Then, I visit their LinkedIn profiles to assess their relevance.”
“Using the extension, I select the people I’m interested in and create a list sourced from Cognism, which seamlessly integrates with the Chrome extension. With a simple click, I add these selected individuals to my list.”
“This approach allows me the freedom to conduct targeted searches on LinkedIn, ensuring that I only add the most relevant people to my list. Once they’re on the list, I can reach out to them using customised messaging. Whether it’s through personalised outreach or sending mass messages, I can also download these lists and import them into other marketing tools like HubSpot.”
Kelly Services started using Cognism’s fully blended intent data, powered by Bombora in 2021 Q4. What daily challenges were the BDMs experiencing prior to using intent data?
“They were hitting prospects too late in the buying process. Ideally, they want to get in front of the curve and reach them before they make their hiring decisions.”
She told us more about why they decided to use fully blended intent data powered by Bombora to alleviate this issue.
“In 2022, our vision is to win big. Previously we were placing temporary staff hires, but this year our aim is to sell big recruitment solutions, such as RPOs and Master vendors. However, to get your foot in front of the right clients, you need to hit them at the right time in the buying process.”
“When our CSM showed us the intent service, we thought it was great. The data gives us the early hiring signals we need to know when companies are looking at other recruitment agencies. The intent piece came at the right time in order for us to meet our 2022 goals.”
She told us more about their workflows with intent data.
“I generate the data in the WebApp on behalf of the BDMs using the staffing and RPO intent topics. In the search, I can see what topics are surging alongside the surge number. Once I've refined the contacts according to their surge number, I sync the lists into our Bullhorn CRM and assign the contacts from each vertical to an individual BDM. The BDM will then contact the desired prospects within the surging accounts with a personalised message."
What KPIs do they have in place for Cognism’s intent data?
“At the very least, the BDMs are required to target 10 companies weekly from the surging accounts list, and within each company, they need to contact at least 5 contacts. We’ve set up a process where they can use Cognism and intent hand in hand. This significantly helps them save time.”
“Cognism’s intent data plays a key role in identifying these companies. Intent provides them with the ammunition to have a much more tailored, targeted approach.”
What was Kelly Services’ onboarding experience like?
“It was very quick and easy. Everything works seamlessly, from importing information from LinkedIn to organising and building lists in Cognism. It’s a straightforward process.”
The Sales Development Manager told us about the support they received from the onboarding team:
“We’ve also had a few calls with Cognism account managers who provided valuable tips and checked in on our progress.”
“Overall, our experience with Cognism has been amazing, and everything has been very fast and efficient.”
The results
What’s the biggest reason Kelly Services would recommend us?
“The platform is incredibly easy to use. After searching for prospects, the contacts are always fresh which is a common daily challenge in B2B sales. Not only is this a benefit but the support services are phenomenal. Whenever I reach out to our CSM, she will reply promptly with insightful and proactive suggestions.”
Here are some other reasons why Kelly Services would recommend Cognism:
1. Intent data
Kelly Services has seen quantifiable success from Cognism’s premium data.
“In such a short time, our mailing list has grown from nothing to 28,000 contacts, and a huge part of that is down to Cognism. We initially chose Cognism to grow our B2B mailing list and the expectations have been met.”
“Not only have we increased our brand awareness, but we’re already in the final stages with a potential client since using intent data.”
“This year alone, we’ve generated 15 qualified leads through Cognism.”
2. Streamlined processes
“The ability to identify relevant data is crucial, especially in the evolving field of recruitment. Traditional methods involved a lot of manual data collection, often over the phone. However, with changes in business dynamics and the impact of events like COVID, this approach has become less practical.”
“In today’s landscape, people prefer to receive information in different ways. The power to quickly identify potential candidates and target them with personalised messages is invaluable. Compared to the time-consuming and uncertain process of manual data collection, tools like Cognism streamline the process, making it much more efficient.”
3. Ease of use and support
“We’ve interacted with many people from Cognism who’ve shared useful tips and tricks with us. We had a dedicated session on how to use intent data effectively. They helped us get the most out of it and optimise usage.”
“It’s always been easy to connect with someone and ensure we’re making the most of the tools at our disposal.”
“Overall, the Sales Director and BDMs are really excited about intent data and our continuing partnership with Cognism. At the moment, we are only using Cognism for UK prospecting, but the service has been presented to international leadership. The feedback was positive and they are very excited about the success intent data will bring to the business on a larger scale.”
Try Cognism’s sales intelligence solution
Over 1,000 revenue teams around the world trust Cognism to:
✅ Build qualified B2B contact databases
✅ Plan and launch their outbound campaigns
✅ Power up their social selling
✅ Meet and beat their revenue targets
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