Fabio De Bernardi, VP of Business Development at Adverity: “Having the right partner, whether it’s an agency or a reliable data stack, is essential”

Reading advice is far easier than heeding advice. This interview, with Fabio De Bernardi, Vice President of Business Development at Adverity, is packed full of insights that you could easily read and nod along to. “Of course we do this,” you say to yourself, “sales were up 5% last quarter so nothing to worry about.”

But rather than nod your agreement, we think it’s worth taking a step back to think whether you are genuinely doing the right things. Could you turn that 5% increase into 10%? 15%? 20%?

“Looking at sales figures alone can lead to a fragmented view of performance,” Fabio explains, “preventing businesses from understanding the big picture.” So how do gain proper insights that you can act upon, rather than patting yourself on the back? It’s all about putting your sales data in context with marketing data. A small rise in sales could mask spiralling customer retention rates.

This is the area where Fabio has earned his reputation over the past two decades: that intersection where data, digital marketing and e-commerce meet. In that time, he’s worked for startups and scale-ups, leading sales, account management and partnerships. And he’s now in charge of global partnerships for Adverity.

Little wonder the advice he shares here is worth both reading and heeding.

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Can you give an example of a complex problem in sales that you – or your company – have been involved in tackling with technology?

A challenge we often face is ensuring that sales data is integrated with broader business data – a task now essential for companies that want to remain competitive while securing long-term, sustainable growth.

Looking at sales figures alone can lead to a fragmented view of performance, preventing businesses from understanding the big picture. To gain comprehensive, meaningful insights, pipeline potential and revenue-related numbers should be evaluated alongside marketing data, customer retention rates, and the company’s overall financial performance.

We clearly see businesses that foster cross-departmental collaboration to build cohesive, holistic reporting – through a robust data infrastructure – position themselves at the forefront of this success. Such an approach enables them to proactively identify and address potential risks and inefficiencies within their operations while being innovative in strategy.

How has technology helped marketing and sales work better together? Or, if you feel differently about it, has it increased the gap between those two departments?

When equipped with the right technology – including tools designed to be used collaboratively by both marketing and sales teams – these departments can more easily align and work toward shared goals. This alignment ensures that C-Level executives can trust department heads to be fully synchronised with wider business objectives, empowered by unified data.

On the other hand, the gap between sales and marketing could be increasing in companies that still don’t grasp the necessity of having a single source of truth and believe that departments can operate in silos. Fortunately, we’re seeing fewer and fewer companies with this outdated mindset and a growing number of revenue-driven marketers and marketing-savvy sales leads.

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Thinking of data, can you share some specific examples of it being impactful in driving revenue?

I can hardly imagine revenue today being unaffected by data. Consider the B2B sales process: it begins with identifying and filtering prospects – steps entirely driven by data. Furthermore, B2C companies embrace the overwhelming amount of data related to customer behaviour to be able to wisely position themselves and reach their potential customers with their ads.

Then, as the prospects are moving through the pipeline, every piece of information is enriched with additional data, which is later analysed by marketing teams to evaluate lead quality and by finance teams to forecast revenue.

In essence, data goes hand in hand with the daily operations of sales and account management teams, making it impossible to pinpoint a single “Aha!” moment where its impact is most profound.

That said, the real value of data emerges when a company has established a solid data foundation and can fully trust the accuracy of its data. With a reliable setup, businesses can mitigate risks, identify and resolve data quality issues, and ultimately forecast future revenue numbers based on observable trends. While this might once have seemed idealistic, more and more companies are successfully implementing strong data foundations, enabling them to unlock reliable insights and make swift, revenue-driving decisions.

When thinking of international expansion, how can technology help? What role can it play in developing and executing a strategy for commercial activities in a multinational context?

The right technology can play a powerful role when implementing and scaling proven campaign and commercial strategies across different markets – with appropriate adjustments made for local contexts. This approach eliminates the need to start from scratch in each market, allowing companies to build on historical data and past experience with continuous refinement of strategies, leading to superior results and successful expansions.

Moreover, having the right partner, whether it’s an agency or a reliable data stack, is essential. Their expertise and technology play a critical role in adapting your strategy as you enter these new markets, ensuring decisions are backed by accurate, reliable data.

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How do you leverage digital technologies and data analytics to enhance commercial operations globally?

Alignment around data integration and reporting is key to any company’s commercial success. The entire organisation must be able to access and rely on the same data, being sure of its quality.

While staying aware of trends is important, it’s crucial not to adopt them hastily – test them, let them mature, and selectively implement what truly enhances your business operations. Invest in tools that allow you to localise campaigns and activities, but also have the scalability to grow with your business and its priorities. Regularly review your data stack, keeping only those platforms that facilitate growth while discarding those that hinder it.

In your view, what role can technology play in providing a unified view of offline and online sales? How can it improve both worlds? What challenges can it tackle?

Online and offline channels are increasingly inseparable, and sales strategies must integrate both, tracking them as a unified experience. Today’s prospects interact with multiple channels throughout the sales cycle, engaging with your company’s offerings. It’s crucial that companies send consistent messages to prospects across all channels, ensuring that sales communications are aligned with marketing efforts. This depends heavily on collaboration between teams and their leaders.

Tracking and reporting on these interactions is also vital, highlighting the need for strong data integration, high-quality data, and effective data visualisation. Technology plays a pivotal role in achieving this, bridging the gap between online and offline efforts.