How SMC’s tool-savvy team put Amplemarket to the test

SMC is a commercial development agency that helps digital, tech, and SaaS SMBs build, run, and scale their go-to-market operations. They’re pioneers of Cultural Sales Intelligence (CSI), a discipline co-founded and championed by CSO Leon Whyte. By helping clients navigate cross-border communication and cultural nuances of their target markets, SMC is raising the bar for personalized buyer journeys.

This is the story of how Amplemarket’s data-native enablement and SMC’s CSI approach became a match made in go-to-market heaven.

Leon and his team had tested scores of sales enablement and AI tools before finally crossing paths with Amplemarket.

“One of our primary jobs is to test tools and stay up to date with anything that might be useful for our clients. Whether it’s sales enablement or writing business emails, we’re signed up to all of them!”

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When identifying sales solutions for SMC’s clients, the team keeps a few key things in mind:

• Not every customer is tech-savvy. Many of SMC’s clients aren’t fully geared for digital selling, so having one platform to centralize and run outbound is often preferable to managing a multi-tool stack.
• Finding the right ICP is tough. One of the most common challenges for clients is defining and reaching their Ideal Customer Profile. Leon’s team is always on the hunt for top-shelf, global B2B data and lead intelligence to ensure better market penetration.
• Resources are limited. For startups and SMBs, every minute and dollar counts. Poor data quality, high bounce rates, or weak deliverability waste precious resources and hurt ROI.

With so many commercial tools in the market, Leon is passionate about recommending the best solutions to each of his customers based on their business needs.

“If we’re going to recommend something, it comes with our seal of approval. That’s me putting my name to it and asking customers to trust me, so it’s crucially important our evaluations are accurate.”

When Amplemarket came up on SMC’s radar, Leon and his team were keen to measure its performance.

“We ran a test email campaign targeting 50 leads through Amplemarket,” Leon tells us. “We could then compare the results with our tests on other platforms to get a feel for how the data quality measured up.”

Happily, Amplemarket’s results in Leon’s test spoke for themselves.

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From his test campaigns, Leon reported:

• Amplemarket’s email bounce rate was under 10% (including spam reports), compared to Apollo.io’s 70%.
• Phone number connection rate was 88%.
• He was impressed by the number of mobile connections that went directly to individual prospects, rather than gatekept numbers.

Leon was particularly struck by Amplemarket’s rigorous built-in data verification:

"When you select contacts you want to reach out to, the automatic email validation means you're already reducing potential bounces. I have an industry colleague who combines Apollo.io with an extra email validation tool, but that just isn’t efficient or cost-effective.”

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He also highlighted the strength of Amplemarket’s targeting capabilities:

“Being able to export and engage with leads from competitor LinkedIn posts or ads is a brilliant feature. And for businesses who really understand their competitors, being able to identify prospects in their pipeline or leverage contract-ending data is incredible.”

But there was still one thing that truly made Amplemarket stand out to Leon:

“The real USP of Amplemarket is the quality of the data. You know what they say: pay peanuts, get monkeys. Anyone who has used Apollo.io email data will tell you that the bounce rate is a problem.”

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SMC’s specialization in Cultural Sales Intelligence makes them true connoisseurs when it comes to B2B data quality. Leon and his team’s commitment to helping clients understand their target audience better goes hand in hand with Amplemarket’s AI-powered data and verification.

As Leon explains, Amplemarket’s value means even the smallest teams can leverage sophisticated sales motions that generate pipeline and drive business growth, fast.

“The price is higher than a tool like Apollo.io, but with good reason. How many BDRs could you purchase for the same price? None. This tool can do what your BDR will do and be 10 times more effective. It’s a must-have for any B2B organization doing outbound sales!”

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