Clay‘s Head of GTM Partnerships sits down with demandDrive’s Co-Founder & CEO to discuss where Clay data enrichment has driven measurable ROI and how our in-house Clay experts are replicating the results for clients.

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Transcript

Lindsay Frey:
I feel like sometimes I’m sitting there and clients are like, “So what about AI?” And they don’t really even know what that means, but they feel like they need to ask. They don’t really think about what is the specific problem I’m trying to solve with AI. They start with the tools instead of the problem and the objective.

Nancy Mottice:
So, you co-founded demandDrive. You’ve been running it for 15-plus years. Scary to say.

Lindsay Frey:
Yes, 15 years. So my business partner and I started back in 2011 when the world was so different as it related to SDR. We provided outsourced SDR teams and programs for B2B tech companies, and we had a lot of success over those 15 years. Around 2020, post-COVID, we wanted to expand our end market expertise. We saw a lot of opportunity in manufacturing and healthcare. The SDR world has changed so quickly—what was true even six months ago is different now. If you don’t stay current and adopt the right tools and processes, you’re going to fall behind really fast.

Nancy Mottice:
What has changed the most?

Lindsay Frey:
In the past, if you wanted more pipeline, you’d add more headcount. You’d hire more reps, more AEs. That was the model. Now it’s shifted from adding more people to getting the best people orchestrating the right tools to drive the most effective outcomes. What we talk to clients about is how to get the best people, the best trained, using the best tools. That’s sort of the ideal state. People still want to work with people they trust, who bring the right insights and recommendations, and who are using the right tools behind the scenes.

Nancy Mottice:
How did you first find Clay? And when did it start to make sense to work together more closely?

Lindsay Frey:
I have to hand it to my team: they really pushed it. They were like, “You have to look at Clay.” And I was like, is this another AI tool I need to add? But my Head of RevOps, Noah, came to me with really specific use cases. He broke it down simply, and I said, alright, let’s go for it. We implemented Clay about five or six months ago [read the story here] and used it for a few targeted use cases right away to help our team move faster and do more.

Nancy Mottice:
What are some examples?

Lindsay Frey:
We had a client where our inside sales team was calling into large multifamily housing properties, which required a ton of manual research. It was really nuanced. You couldn’t just pull it from a data tool. Noah built workflows in Clay that reduced three to five minutes of research per account down to about three seconds. That completely changed productivity.

Another example was with a manufacturing-focused company we acquired. Their research team was doing extremely manual work: Google searches, copy-pasting into spreadsheets. We automated almost all of that. Now the team is faster and their jobs are more enjoyable. They’re spending time on higher-value work.

Nancy Mottice:
Yeah, it really changes how people spend their time.

Lindsay Frey:
Exactly. Most people want to learn these tools. There’s some intimidation, but we tell our team: embrace it. Hold on to what’s made us successful, but evolve or you’ll be left behind.

Nancy Mottice:
Where do you see companies get this wrong?

Lindsay Frey:
The number one mistake is implementing AI without defining the problem. They start with tools instead of objectives. We often see companies with tons of tools they don’t use. They’re overspending. Instead, they should focus on their top three challenges and build use cases around those, then layer in tools that solve those problems.

Nancy Mottice:
There’s definitely been a lot of tool sprawl.

Lindsay Frey:
Exactly. What makes demandDrive unique is that we’re a full-funnel GTM agency. We bridge RevOps, sales, and marketing. These functions need to work in orchestration. The tools are the glue, but if only one team is using them, it’s disjointed and ineffective.

Nancy Mottice:
What are you seeing in industries like manufacturing?

Lindsay Frey:
Manufacturing is still very relationship-driven. They think in terms of hiring more salespeople and being in the field. But there’s growing awareness; they’re starting to realize that if they don’t modernize their CRM and tech stack, they’ll fall behind. The key is not replacing people, but making them more effective.

Nancy Mottice:
And healthcare?

Lindsay Frey:
Healthcare has additional complexity: security, compliance, HIPAA. There’s more hesitation because of data concerns. But ultimately, every industry wants the same thing: growth, revenue, new customers. It’s just a matter of where they are in adoption.

Nancy Mottice:
You’re actually one of the only partners who has fully invested in Clay Enterprise internally as well. How has that been?

Lindsay Frey:
It’s been incredible. Being a customer ourselves gives us visibility into how powerful Clay is. I can see the impact across the organization, even if I’m not in the weeds every day.

Nancy Mottice:
Looking ahead, what are you most excited about?

Lindsay Frey:
I’m excited about how accessible these tools are becoming. People without technical backgrounds can now build really powerful workflows. That’s going to transform businesses. There’s going to be a lot of education and adoption, but it’s exciting to see individuals embrace it and use it in their day-to-day work.

Nancy Mottice:
Makes it more fun too.

Lindsay Frey:
Definitely.

Nancy Mottice:
Lindsay, thank you so much for joining.

Lindsay Frey:
Thanks so much for having me.

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