Introduction: The Cost of Not Knowing 

If you’re a CEO or VP in building or construction manufacturing, making decisions without clear sales channel data is like driving blind. It can lead your business into uncertainty, avoidable risks, and missed opportunity. But what happens when the data behind these decisions is incomplete, outdated, or simply wrong? 

It’s simple: profitability suffers. 

Poor data quality costs businesses an estimated 15-25% of revenue annually, according to MIT Sloan. Gartner estimates that bad data leads to an average annual loss of $15 million per company. For CEOs in manufacturing, where material costs are rising and market competition is fierce, bad data isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a major liability. 

When key data is missing or misleading, your business suffers. If left unchecked, these gaps will drain revenue, waste marketing spend, and create inefficiencies across your supply chain. So, how do you fix these gaps in channel data and – even better – start preventing them in the first place? 

The 4 Biggest Channel Data Gaps Holding CEOs Back 

You don’t know what you don’t know. Every CEO should ask themselves this: “What data do I think I have, but actually don’t?”

Here are the most critical channel data gaps manufacturers face today: 

1. Missing End-User Data 

You don’t sell directly to customers, so you rely on channel partners for insights. But how much do you really know about your end users? If you’re missing: 

• Who your customers are (demographics, business type) 
• What they’re buying (products, quantities, timing) 
• How they use your products (maintenance needs, satisfaction) 

…then you’re missing opportunities to upsell, improve retention, and increase repeat business. Take “referral contagion,” for example. Referred customers not only buy more, they also refer 30-57% more customers. Without solid data, you lose the ability to encourage and track these high-value referrals.  

2. Sales Visibility Blind Spots 

Your distributors and contractors control the sales process, but are they sharing the data you need? Many manufacturers struggle with: 

• Limited visibility into sales trends 
• Inconsistent or delayed reporting from partners 
• A lack of real-time insights into product demand 

Without clear sales data, forecasting becomes guesswork, leading to stockouts, overproduction, and missed revenue opportunities. CEOs need “X-ray vision” into their channels to see which products are selling and why. 

3. Outdated or Inconsistent Partner Data 

Most CRMs contain incomplete, duplicate, or outdated data—and it’s hurting your bottom line. Studies show that: 

• 91% of CRM data is incomplete  
• 70% of incomplete CRM data decays annually  

(Source: Dun & Bradstreet) 

If your system is full of incorrect sales records, inactive partners, or missing contact details, your marketing and sales efforts are built on a shaky foundation. CEOs must ensure data hygiene is a priority, not an afterthought. 

4. Siloed Data Across Departments 

When sales, marketing, and finance teams work in disconnected systems, the entire business suffers. A Forrester/Airtable survey found that: 

• Large companies (20K+ employees), on average, juggle over 367 different software apps and systems. 
• The average employee spends 2.4 hours a day looking for the data they need.  
• The #1 reason employee engagement drops is employees get frustrated and disengaged when they can’t find the data they need. 

For manufacturing CEOs, fragmented data means slower decision-making, higher costs, and missed market opportunities. 

How Channel Data Gaps Cost You  

Bad data isn’t just frustrating—it’s silently eating away at your company’s profitability by: 

Failing Sales Teams 

Without clear sales data, you could be under-investing in your top partners and wasting resources on underperformers. 

Wasting Marketing Investment 

Channel marketing works best when it’s personal. If you don’t know who’s buying, your marketing spend is going toward guesswork, not strategy. 

Making Operations Inefficient 

An Airbase study of finance teams found that 41% of finance teams manually fix data errors, a slow and error-prone process.  

Compliance & Financial Risks 

Inaccurate channel data can result in regulatory fines, incorrect incentive payouts, and costly audits. 

For CEOs looking to scale efficiently, fixing these issues is not optional—it’s essential. 

How CEOs Can Take Control and Fix Channel Data Gaps 

Fixing channel data gaps isn’t a one-time fix, it requires a leadership commitment. Here’s where to start: 

Data Normalization and Standardization 

Manufacturers and B2B enterprises often face challenges with inconsistent terminology across departments. Are they “leads” or “prospects”? “Clients” or “accounts”? Terminology should match data fields and information should be consistent across all business systems. Establish a standardized taxonomy with defined naming conventions, templates, and mapping rules to ensure uniformity. Without standardization, it’s impossible to accurately collect, analyze, or leverage data for decision-making. 

• Define naming conventions and ensure they’re used organization-wide. 
• Task Operations with creating templates and mapping rules to ensure data uniformity. 
• Identify a single source of truth where sales, marketing, and finance teams access the same data—this should be your CRM or another system widely accessible to all departments that need the data.  

Automation of Data Quality Control 

Relying on manual data validation leads to errors and inefficiencies. Instead, use automated tools that detect and correct bad data in real time. Real-time analytics and system-wide data synchronization ensure that sales, marketing, and operations teams work with the most reliable information—improving efficiency and reducing costly mistakes. 

• Use AI and automation to keep your data accurate without the manual hassle. 
• Use iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) tools like Zapier to enable real-time data exchange across multiple systems.    
• Use third-party data tools like Zoominfo to fill in data gaps. 

Triggered, Automated Data Maintenance 

Outdated or inactive partner records can lead to lost opportunities and poor engagement. Use channel marketing AI and automation tools to: 

• Monitor partner activity and detect outdated information. 
• Set up automated reminders that prompt partners to update their details – keeping engagement strong. 
• Trigger emails automatically based on actions, prompting customers and partners to complete processes and submit all the data you need. 

Incentivized Data Submission 

Getting accurate data from channel partners and end-users can be challenging if partners have zero motivation to provide it. You can create that motivation by offering meaningful incentives. Whether through rewards, rebates, or loyalty programs, a well-structured incentive strategy turns data submission from a chore into a valuable opportunity for partners and customers alike. 

• Reward channel partners for sharing valuable data, like warranty registrations, invoices, receipts, or customer feedback. 
• Provide an open-enrollment customer loyalty program to collect end-user data upon registration. 
• Fold requests for customer data into messages related to your reward program. Extu has found that open rates for rewards-related emails can be 2X higher than industry benchmarks. 

Easy, Streamlined Data Collection 

Even the best data collection strategies fail if they’re too complicated. Make it fast, simple, and seamless for channel partners and customers to share information. Implementing user-friendly digital tools to remove friction and make real-time data submission a seamless part of the partner experience. The easier it is to provide data, the more reliable and complete your insights will be. 

• Offer a digital partner portal where partners can easily input and track customer data like purchase details, product registrations, or service requests.  
• Make real-time data collection effortless with mobile-friendly options. For example, Extu’s incentive program technology allows contractors to snap a photo of an invoice, warranty registration, etc. and get instant rewards for uploading it into the incentive program.  
• Include QR codes on packaging or invoices that guide customers or partners to a data collection form. This method is quick, requires minimal effort, and eliminates the risk of transcription errors. 

Conclusion: A CEO’s Data Checklist for Smarter Decisions 

CEOs who take a proactive approach to fixing data gaps gain a significant edge—stronger sales performance, smarter marketing investments, and more efficient operations. By prioritizing data standardization, automation, and incentivized reporting, manufacturers can eliminate blind spots and transform raw information into actionable intelligence. More importantly, when sales, marketing, and finance teams work from a single, accurate data source, the entire business operates with greater agility and confidence. The longer data issues go unaddressed, the more they erode profitability and competitive positioning. Now is the time to take control, fix the gaps, and turn your company’s data into a competitive advantage. 

To ensure your business isn’t bleeding revenue due to data gaps, ask yourself: 

✅ Do I have real-time visibility into end-user and sales data? 
✅ Are my partners incentivized to share accurate data? 
✅ Is my company using AI and automation to validate and centralize data? 
✅ Are finance, sales, and marketing working from the same, accurate data source? 

If the answer to any of these is “no,” your data gaps are costing you—and your competitors are taking advantage. 

The good news? CEOs who fix their channel data problems gain a powerful advantage: better forecasting, increased revenue, and stronger partner relationships.