Five "Musts" For Your Cold Calling Lists
For my final blog of the
year, I'll keep it simple with five suggestions on what you should be
looking for from your cold call list in 2010:
1) Never buy a name over a year old:
Generally once you get past 12 months on prospect data- some portion of
their contact information is inaccurate. A different extension, to a
change in title, to a departure from the company etc.; generally the
information isn't worth the amount you paid once it has aged over a
year. Another thing to keep in mind is if the list provider is not able
to provide a date of validation or when the name was acquired at all,
there really is not point in purchasing a name to begin with.
2) Always buy a name- do not rent!:
I can honestly say that I have never had a positive experience with a
list rental. Though the rental may be cheaper, generally the response
rate is much lower. From my experience we have seen it around 2% vs. 5%
on a purchased list. Plus, you have no vision as to who has been
touched on the list unless a prospect expresses some interest in
return. Bottom-line - if you don't OWN the name there really is no
reason to invest your dollars.
3) Get a sample list of names before you purchase a full list:
You should be allowed the test the vendor out a bit in order
to get a feel for the quality. Those of you who have bought a list in
the past understand that a decent list is not going to be cheap. The
better companies typically offer a sample of 25 names to test out based
on your specific list criteria.
4) Make sure the vendor allows for the option of re-imbursement:
The better vendors out there will pay you back for a bounced email or
disconnected line. In fact, they appreciate you letting them know
because the bad data will be scrubbed out and their database is filled
with only the most accurate up to date contact info.
5) No list is perfect:
As much as we would all like to think that there is a list out there
ready to be purchased that will net you an un-ending amount of leads
and a ton of closed biz, guess what...it doesn't exist. In order to get
a dream account list together of great titles with accurate contact
info there needs to be some manual input. Generally a good purchased
list can get you 60-70% of the way there, but you (or your intern) will
absolutely need to pick up the phone to track down additional prospects
along with some pre-scrub of the contact info in order to put your
teleprospectors in the best position to find fully qualified leads.
I hope everyone enjoys their New Year.
I'll be back next week to discuss some of the important traits required
in order to be a successful teleprospector.