Ada got RevOps superpowers with Kernel’s custom data tooling

Problem

Ada focuses on building pipeline more efficiently on their path to profitability. As part of this, Ada shifted from mass outbound to highly personalized outbound. 

However, the data in Ada's CRM used for finding accounts, ranking accounts and personalizing outbound was inconsistent. Reps had to double-check it all - or find it manually online.

As a result, reps would spend up to a day per week doing account research to find the best accounts and create highly personalized messaging. They would research across LinkedIn, news articles, careers pages, support centres, support chatbots, etc.

Finding the right partner

Ada centers its go-to-market strategy around a few core ICP data points related to technographics, precise vertical classification and team composition.

When looking for the right partner, Ada prioritized trust in the data above all else. Josephine, Director of Sales Development, collected data samples from a handful of vendors who claimed they could deliver the data.

Kernel was the clear winner. Alongside the data, Kernel provided links to the sources for each signal. This helped build rep trust.

Solution

Kernel gives Ada's RevOps team the tools to deploy custom data directly in Salesforce. Ada uses the data to find new accounts, rank accounts, and personalize outbound.

For example, Ada had a list of custom verticals they wanted to categorise all accounts by; Ada used Kernel to build a classifier to do that much more precisely than off-the-shelf data providers.

Kernel enabled Ada to use the custom data to create an easy-to-edit account score in collaboration with reps., The score shows all the data points that contributed to the specific score for each account. This account score has become the foundation for finding new accounts, ranking accounts and personalizing outbound.

With Kernel, Ada carved new territories by splitting up accounts so that each rep would get the same number of great accounts. The Kernel account score showed that previous years’ top-performing reps had also been working the most promising account territories; the quality of their accounts drove performance. Previously, Ada had no visibility over quality that everyone trusted. Now, Ada could easily balance territories by account volume and quality, freeing up RevOps capacity for more strategic projects.

As part of the territory carving exercise, Kernel added 100,000 brand-new accounts to Ada’s CRM. They then used the Kernel data to narrow down the entire account universe via Ada-specific signals to the 15,000 best accounts and then divided those accounts among reps. 

The Kernel score meant that reps knew exactly which accounts to target on the first day of the new quarter, saving reps 1-2 weeks of getting familiar with their account territory.