When you observe the trajectory of successful organizations, whether Microsoft, Apple or upstarts like the Dollar Shave Club, and Warby Parker, it’s clear that innovation sets them apart from the competition.

No one uses rotary phones to make calls anymore, the age of mimeograph paper is long gone, and soon the idea of using “gut instincts” to drive marketing campaigns will feel just as archaic. We have officially entered the age of data-driven marketing—and marketers who rely on their guts alone may find themselves increasingly ineffective in an industry capitalizing on data insights to reach customers.

By considering our customers’ unique sales journey and buying styles, we can tailor our messages and sales approach, and increase our sales effectiveness.

We spend much of our time thinking about how attractive our customers look to us. The secret to shortening manufacturing sales cycles is to understand how attractive we look to our potential customers. Think about it. In meeting after meeting and spreadsheet after spreadsheet we analyze customers based on their purchase volume, profit margin, and product mix—celebrating those customers that buy a lot, pay a lot, or buy what we want to sell. In the same breath, we grumble about customers that require gobs of TLC but then don’t buy very much, spend very much, or order what we would like to sell.

“I’m not sure about naming competitors in our customer survey. Isn’t it risky to name potential replacements for our products?

This question has come up from not just one but multiple customers over the past year. At first, I was somewhat surprised and thought it may be a unique aspect of certain industries. But the more it came up, the more apparent it became that this was a fairly widespread concern.