- B2b lead generation companies develop “opt-in” databases based on general appeal. If you’re selling generators, or commercial oils and lubricants their database may be “opt in” and b2b but it is definitely not a list of people interested in buying oil or an industrial vacuum cleaner this month.
- Remember that other companies also bought the database… as often as the supplier can possibly sell it. The people you will be calling will be rather tired of getting interruptions about buying any product.
- Contactability rates are the industry’s “guarantee of quality”. Some vendors will actually refund you for bounced emails or phone numbers. Is the fact that the email reaches a prospect’s computer really a measure of quality?
- When I researched “opt-in” b2b database companies, both assured me their databases are strictly permission based and “opt-in” yet I mysteriously started getting phone calls and unsolicited email immediately after I started talking to them. So much so that I eventually resorted to reason 5 below.
- Smart people in typical job roles that get harassed by cold callers and sales people (procurement officers, marketing managers, managing directors etc) go to the national opt-out database and register themselves to never be contacted by members of the Direct Marketing Association. (A good portion of the direct marketers out there.) Here is the link to save yourself from annoying phone calls and junk email like I did… and most of the people you really want to sell your products to have already registered themselves.
Now you may well be asking yourself why a marketer like myself would be advising against buying a b2b database for your sales team?
Especially since one of the solutions I provide for companies and sales teams is indeed fresh new warm leads.The difference is that I offer Inbound marketing which is a whole system and strategy designed to attract the right people at the right time to buy. We create systems that build your company their own unique database of people interested in exactly what you offer. Yes. It is a specific database of people who have materially shown interest in your company or product offering. Inbound marketing is actually a whole lot more than merely the ability to generate your own b2b database of future customers.
To learn more about inbound marketing have a look at our eBook below, which you can download for free. (And no I don’t sell databases and won’t ever sell or use your email address in any way other than for the purposes of marketing Wild Pursuit.)
