Business marketers tend to target relatively narrow audiences while sales lead generation. Compiled data, built from such sources as government records, telephone listings and credit data, generally provides better breadth of coverage, compared to response files.
Thanks to the Internet, two important developments have revolutionized B-to-B compiled data of sales leads. First, entirely new data sources have emerged based on information gathered using the Internet itself. The second development is easy online ordering, now offered by data compilers of all stripes. Marketers can search fields, generate counts, and place orders via browser-based interfaces, and download the data instantly.
However there are two important issues here about data accuracy and data coverage. Data Marketers are advised to develop a detailed ordering methodology, to increase the likelihood that the data they receive is what they were seeking.
Some guidelines:
• Given the wide variances in data quantity and quality, it’s essential that you investigate thoroughly the data sources and maintenance practices of the vendors you are considering.
• Do not assume that all subsidiaries of large compilers will have the same data. SalesGenie, OneSource and idEXEC are all units of InfoGroup. Selectory and Zapdata are divisions of D&B. All showed dramatic differences.
• When you do place your order, be very specific about industry selections. Find out if the vendor uses SIC, or some kind of conversion algorithm. Not that any method is wrong— just that you want to know exactly what you are getting.
• Keep an eye out for vendor specialization by industry. NetProspex, for example, appears to have particular depth in the business services category, but does not cover education at all.
• It’s a good idea to conduct a comparative test before you buy. One way to do this is by running an append test, sending each potential vendor a list of 5000 of your house names and asking them to add data fields. Be sure you include a few dozen records on which you know the “truth,” to assess accuracy of what comes back. Another method is to order a sample of names, and verify their accuracy by telephone.