!#44# Business Data Lists - How They Work & Why You Should Use Them

!±8± Business Data Lists - How They Work & Why You Should Use Them

Lead generation is hard work when your company is consumer based. Sales staffers are consistently putting their collective noses to the grindstone keeping new prospects in the pipeline. With 300 million consumers in the United States alone that is a lot of direct marketing possibilities. Generating leads when you are a business to business company is a much more difficult task. There are approximately 90% less businesses than consumers.

Is your organization B2B based? Need range and coverage for your next direct marketing campaign? Consider purchasing a business list.

Most companies are aware of how a demographic or psychographic data list is utilized. These are great tools to apply when direct marketing to consumers. If your company markets B2B however, the marketing parameters change. The good news is business data lists offer divergent variables allowing B2B companies a leg up on their competition.

Business data lists can be as specific or general as required. Among the parameters it is possible to choose from: industry type, size of employees, sales volume, company expenditure, building size, job title, credit rating, ownership, location type, years in business, area codes, cities, counties, metro areas, neighborhoods, zip codes, states, and radius from a location. Some data list providers even offer fax numbers and website addresses if available. That is a lot of factors to decide on.

HandCare LLC is a company that used a business data list to increase lead generation: and got more than they anticipated.

Reggie Thompson is the marketing director of HandCare LLC. The company provides innovative and common types of latex disposable gloves. He is tasked with not only finding buyers for the stock they currently have available, his job also includes testing new material being developed. Once the new material passes their rigorous inspection process HandCare LLC adds it to their portfolio of products.

Not long ago Reggie was shown a new product he felt was revolutionary in design. The material used and the manufacture of the glove would be perfect for clientele that need form fitting gloves without any gaps. The company wanted to carry the merchandise. However, since the item was manufactured overseas HandCare LLC would have to order a large supply in order to be cost effective. Their current database of clients would only draw in so much business. That's when Reggie decided to purchase his first business list.

Reggie knew he needed to get a sample of the product in the hands of the purchaser directly along with an advertisement indicating the benefits gained by using this glove. He contacted his long time direct mail marketing house and explained his situation. This time a postcard was not going to be enough. The mail house suggested designing a fold over card full of colorful graphics along with an advertisement of the benefits HandCare LLC wanted to promote. Two samples of the material would be inserted between the fold and then inserted into a poly bag for mailing purposes. Finding companies to send these to was simple. Together Reggie and his mail house agent sat down and determined a business data list to use.

The first direct market mailing was sent to tattoo parlors in certain large metropolitan areas, in business for five years or more having phone and fax numbers available. He chose his second mailing to be EMT stations, Emergency Clinics and ambulance services within a tri-state region. The response from the first mailing was so successful, the second mailing was delayed six months in order for more stock to be purchased and received. A third mailing is now in production, fourteen months after the first.

There have been other direct marketing endeavors for Reggie and HandCare LLC. Each time in addition to the current client base an additional business data list is purchased. Working together, the new database is targeting the business audience needed for a successful marketing campaign. Using and quantifying a business data list was, and continues to be, a strong influence on the robust market share HandCare LLC enjoys.