You’ve followed part one of this blog and spent the time and allocated the resources to conduct an internal audit of your database. You’ve evaluated and implemented the multiple tactics in part two of this blog to grow your prospect list. Now what? The last, and arguably most important step to an effective prospect list is to maintain, maintain, maintain!

Step 3: Maintain, maintain, maintain!

Regular maintenance of your list cannot be stressed enough. This ensures your database is always fresh and accurate and steadily growing. There are two critical steps to maintaining your list:

1. Regularly scheduled clean-up—As I stated in part one of this blog, regularly scheduled list clean-up should become a part of your sales process. Develop internal processes that work for you, such as an annual sales team “spring cleaning” day, and bi-annual “update your profile” e-mails. Document the process that fits so you can use it going forward. Schedule the next list clean-up day(s) and “update your profile” e-mails ahead of time to ensure they do not fall through the cracks.

2. Tactical Evaluation—Once you’ve implemented multiple list building tactics, they need to be evaluated in order to determine any that are ineffective. Do this at least bi-annually and annually. You can schedule the tactical evaluation to coincide with your clean-up day(s) and “update your profile” e-mail blasts. Evaluate the investment and return (quality prospects added to your list) to determine if any tactics need to be eliminated and dollars need to be reallocated. Use the first evaluation as a benchmark going forward. Again, document these processes and schedule the evaluation days ahead of time.

The key is to develop and document processes that work for your company. Make it a part of your culture. It will take some time and effort, but with an accurate database, you will see higher ROI and business growth. 

Do you have additional information for people looking to implement a list development strategy? What best practices work for your company when cleaning, building and maintaining your list?

Jill Ruiz
Senior Project Manager
ClearEdge Marketing

In part one of this blog, I discussed how to conduct an internal audit and clean the list you already have by engaging your sales team in “spring cleaning” and sending “update your profile” e-mails. Once that process is in place, you are ready to find new prospects for your list. 

Step 2: Find new prospects—build your list!
The key to building a solid, accurate list is by utilizing a multi-channel approach to diversify your list growth tactics and reach as many prospects as possible. The most frequently used tactics, which I will explain in detail below include, but are not limited to, online registration, gathering qualified leads at conferences/events, referrals and co-registration, research firms and purchasing/renting. Choose at least three tactics to implement.

Conferences and other events
Conferences and tradeshows are favored ways for companies to grow their prospect lists, since you are able to interact with and evaluate prospects who express interest in your services. This is an effective way to zero in on your target, but make sure the sales team follows up with all prospects in a timely manner via a phone call. If they aren’t able to follow up by phone, as a back-up only, send an e-mail thanking the prospect and offer an incentive for them to register on your Web site.

Don’t stop at conferences. Participating in local events and associations, networking lunches, sponsoring Webinars, even online discussion forums and newsgroups—almost anything can (and should) become a list-building opportunity.  

Use your Web site—online registration
Developing an online registration (opt-in) form is perhaps the easiest, most cost-effective way to build a prospect list. Make sure all of your marketing efforts direct prospects to this online form, including your advertising, direct mail campaigns, e-mail signatures and social media efforts (including your corporate Facebook page, LinkedIn accounts and Twitter tweets).

The most effective registration forms collect only the necessary information. This form should not take the place of an introduction sales call. It’s an opportunity to gather the critical contact information for your sales team to follow up and start the sales process. The best way to get prospects is to give an incentive to register with your company. Offer relevant thought leadership pieces such as industry surveys, business articles, newsletter case studies or even conference and event notifications. Remember, a lot of people get annoyed when requested to register—so, be sure to make the content they are registering for of relevance and value.

Referrals and co-registration
Referrals are a useful and easy way to gather prospects. It’s simple to add ‘Refer a Friend’ links to eNewsletters or a call-out to a direct mail campaign, but make sure you offer an incentive that is relevant and will attract your target.

You can also team with companies or organizations to offer co-registration. Co-registration is when one company, on its own opt-in form, offers their subscribers an option to opt-in to another company. For example, you subscribe to an eNewsletter on a Webpage, and in the process, you are invited to subscribe to one or several other eNewsletters of the same general interest. You and your partners jointly grow each other’s lists. Look for sites similar to your own by searching for them in search engines and directories. If they have an eNewsletter similar to your own that doesn’t necessarily compete, opt-in to see what types of communications they send. If you find the information will be of interest to your target, the company is a good candidate. If they don’t have an eNewsletter, you may be able to arrange a deal where they would offer free subscriptions to your eNewsletter from their site in exchange for a link from your site to theirs. Just be aware that co-registration requires close monitoring, to ensure poor performing sources are identified and removed. 

To rent, or not to rent? Using outside list rental and research firms
Buyer beware! In my experience, companies who rely too heavily on rented or purchased lists are often disappointed in the results as well as the cost. There are also subscription-based companies, but those can be costly as well. Used (smartly) as just one part of a larger overall list development strategy, rented or purchased lists can enhance your internal prospect list even further.

Using companies like Hoovers and Harte-Hanks or subscription-based companies like ZoomInfo can sometimes be ineffective if your prospect list is highly targeted (typically, the more criteria you have for your target, the smaller the list will be); which is often the case in selling a niche service versus something broader. However, it doesn’t hurt to look into it. Just make sure to ask critical questions such as how they update their information (opt-in, members update, phone calls, outside databases/partnership, etc.)? How frequently that information is updated? What are their opt-in permission levels? What information is included in the list name, company, address, phone, e-mail (e-mails are usually an additional charge)? How frequently do you get to use the list (is it one-time purchase or multiple uses)? What is their policy for returned addresses (in other words, if x% are bad contacts, how many will they replace)? Finally, ask for a sample name or two from a company where you know the contacts you are requesting. This tactic will help with a quick “spot” check on quality.

On a separate note, if you are using e-mail as part of an online campaign, most list companies will send the communication for you, and will not reveal the address unless the prospect opens or replies to your e-mail. Therefore, it is important to inquire about the list companies’ process and reporting. A good practice would be to sign up to the list firm’s eNewsletter to see firsthand what kind of information they send, how frequently and what kind of contact information they are looking for. 

Some list companies will also offer a telemarketing service as a follow-up to your communications. If your sales team does not have the capacity to follow up with every prospect after a communication has gone out, outsourcing the telemarketing service may be worth the extra cost.

Another, often more effective tactic is renting lists from associations or trade publications in your industry. You have a greater chance of reaching your specific target audience through these vehicles. Do your research to determine which associations and trade publications you should approach by downloading or requesting a media kit and find out if they offer list rental services. More often than not, they do!

What is your advice or personal experiences with building your company’s list? Do you have tactics that work? What do you think other people should know about before buying a list?

In part 3 of It’s All About the List: List Development Strategies That Enhance Your Marketing Campaign, I will discuss the importance of and how to maintain your list. Please click here to continue to part 3 of this blog.

Jill Ruiz
Senior Project Manager
ClearEdge Marketing

To maximize ROI and grow your business effectively, you need to have a solid, accurate database. Having a solid prospect list is the backbone of any company’s sales strategy and a critical component to continually achieve desired ROI in your marketing campaigns, Keep-in-Touch (KIT) Programs or Target Account Programs (TAP).  Take the time to build and maintain your database. If you don’t, you are simply wasting time and money.

In the first of a three-part blog, I will address steps you can take to achieve the most effective prospect list:

Step 1: Conduct an internal audit—clean your current list!
Step 2: Find new prospects—build your list!
Step 3: Maintain, maintain, maintain!

Step 1: Conduct an internal audit—clean your current list!
Most companies have a prospect list already. But so many people move jobs within a given year that, lists become outdated, inaccurate and are therefore fairly useless. The very first step in developing a solid, effective prospect list is to clean up the one you already have (and if the list you have is a stack of business cards sitting on each sales person’s desk or in their LinkedIn networks, start building and documenting your list now, now, now!). It’s important to regularly validate the information in your prospect list—after all it’s the lifeblood of your sales efforts (which is why it is so surprising how many companies don’t invest in nurturing and building it!).

With that said, your sales team should be involved in and accountable for the quality of this list (although marketing and inside sales can support with research as appropriate, it’s the sales team who owns the relationship). An effective way to engage your sales team in an internal audit is to dedicate a day (or two) of your team’s time to call and e-mail everyone in their database. Turn this into a “spring cleaning” activity with incentives such as catered lunch, casual dress and/or a contest to see who can update their lists the fastest and most accurately (tracking the returned communications, either e-mails or printed pieces, against the sales person as they come in). And who knows, maybe client meetings will occur just by reaching out to update contact information!

In addition to your sales team spring cleaning, you might want to send clients and prospects periodic “update your profile” e-mails, note cards or customer surveys. Offer them incentives for replying, such as discounts on services or an attractive raffle prize. If you feel none of these efforts are right for your company, you may need to invest in outside help to clean up your list. Most telemarketing companies offer this service, but the fees can be steep and you lose the “insider’s knowledge” your sales team has of each client and prospect. Not to mention you lose an opportunity to reach out to those prospects you may not have approached in a while.

List clean-up is not a one-time solution. It’s ongoing and should become part of your sales process—an annual or bi-annual activity that not only ensures your list is always accurate it ensures the right prospects are on the list. Think about it. When you buy a list, one of the first questions you ask the list company is how often do you update the list. Why should it be any different for your actual list?

What is your advice or personal experience with cleaning the list your company already has? Do you have an internal process in place? Is that process regularly put into action? Do you think it’s successful? If so, why? If not, why not?
 
In part 2 of It’s All About the List: List Development Strategies that Enhance Your Marketing Campaign, I will discuss various ways to find new prospects and build your list. Please click here to continue to part 2 of this blog.

Jill Ruiz
Senior Project Manager
ClearEdge Marketing