Data for growth - Part 1: Optimizing sales and marketing ROI in 2026

In this new series entitled Data for Growth, we will be emphasizing the importance of leveraging unified, enriched data to drive scalable growth in competitive markets.

The series will be broken into 4 parts:

1. The foundation – Why data-driven sales wins
2. Building the right data infrastructure
3. Turning insights into actionable strategies
4. Measuring success and continuous improvement

Across the series we will highlight common challenges, like fragmented insights and misaligned sales and marketing efforts, which lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. By integrating high quality data and insights, defining precise ideal customer profiles (ICP), and utilizing AI-driven insights, businesses can optimize lead targeting, reduce acquisition costs, and improve ROI. The case study below (part 1 of the series) illustrates the transformative impact of this approach, showcasing significant gains in lead conversion time, sales efficiency, and customer lifetime value through smarter, data-driven strategies.

Imagine this scenario

Company A, a fast-growing leader in the SaaS sector, is experiencing significant pressure to accelerate growth and expand its market footprint. In response, the leadership team has allocated substantial resources toward account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns and sales outreach, but results are disappointing:

• Lead quality lacks consistency, resulting in inefficiencies within the sales funnel. 
• Sales cycles are dragging out longer than they should, slowing down how fast deals get closed, and revenue comes in. 
• Customer churn rates are trending upward, posing a threat to recurring revenue and long-term customer lifetime value. 

Despite having mountains of data, Company A struggles to identify the right prospects. Marketing relies on web analytics; sales use customer relationship management data, and customer success gathers post-sale insights, but none of it connects. The result? Wasted resources and missed opportunities.
 

The growth challenge: Why scaling in saturated markets is harder than ever

This challenge isn’t unique to Company A. In today’s hyper-competitive market, many organizations face similar hurdles. Scaling efficiently requires more than aggressive outreach — it also demands precision. The difference between success and stagnation often comes down to how well a company leverages its data.
 

Why poor data quality undermines growth

Poor data quality, incomplete records, and fragmented information are at the heart of the problem. When valuable insights are isolated within different departments, organizations face the risk of pursuing prospects with low potential while missing out on promising customers. This fragmentation results in less effective lead qualification, higher customer acquisition costs, and ultimately, lost revenue.
 

Building your ideal customer profile (ICP): A roadmap to precision targeting

In sales and marketing , crafting a unified, data-driven ICP is important for precision targeting and sustained business growth. When sales and marketing teams operate without a shared ICP strategy, acquisition costs rise, conversion rates fall, and cross-team collaboration suffers. More critically, onboarding customers who do not fit the ICP can result in higher churn rates and damage brand reputation, undermining competitive edge.
 

Unlocking your total addressable market (TAM): Where are your best opportunities?

Moody’s helps organizations like Company A overcome these challenges by integrating comprehensive foundational data—including firmographics, and purchase history—with digital signals like technographics and behavioral patterns. Moody’s helps organizations to build comprehensive ICPs, giving sales and marketing teams an ideal 360-degree view. This clarity helps them to define their TAM, prioritize high-value prospects with precision, and focus outreach on accounts with the greatest potential for conversion and growth.

With Moody’s data capabilities, sales and marketing strategies are not only more efficient but also more effective—unlocking new market segments and driving smarter engagement across all levels of your organization.
 

Pre-screening: Save time, reduce costs, and focus on high-value prospects

To replicate this success, businesses should:

1. Integrate and cleanse sales and marketing data for accuracy. 
2. Enrich digital insights, technographics, behavioral signals, and online engagement. 
3. Apply AI and machine learning analytics to uncover patterns and predict high-value prospects. 
4. Automate pre-screening workflows to align marketing and sales, filter out unqualified leads, and focus on high-value opportunities.
    

From data to return on investment (ROI): The business case for smarter growth strategies

The impact is transformative. Company A, a B2B SaaS company leveraging Moody’s approach was able to:

• Reduce lead conversion time
• Improve sales efficiency
• Increase customer lifetime value

These results prove the ROI of smarter data utilization and the long-term advantage of focusing on the right opportunities. 

All persons, entities, organizations, and events portrayed in this case study are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons or entities, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This case study is intended solely for educational and illustrative purposes and should not be construed as reflecting real-world scenarios or legal advice.