How A Good List Vendor Can Make A Difference In Your Campaign

All marketers and demand generation professionals are really concerned about just one thing- GOOD LEADS THAT CONVERT.

But have you ever thought about putting your efforts in the right direction that will lead to conversions?

A wrong list can certainly land you in a situation where you feel trapped with wrong commitments and expectations. When you are purchasing and finalizing a list with b2b list vendors in the market, it's really hard to judge what they will finally offer even if you are happy with the samples and the value the vendors putting in. You still feel sceptic about getting the "right" target audience for your campaign because you've been burnt so many times in the past. The irony is that you were eventually trying to save money and ended up spending almost triple for getting the right party contacts.

It's really hard to trust list companies in the market but here are 5 steps which you can follow to be sure of a win-win situation:

1.     Knowledge Transfer: Make sure your vendor is not an amateur in your target industry. When you discuss your criteria on the phone, try to judge your vendors knowledge by listening what he suggests you on the job titles, industries, his past experience etc.

2.     Samples Make a Difference: There might be instances when your vendor tell you how they don't believe in offering samples. I understand there are vendors who don't offer samples but any how you have to get it. On the contrary, samples are just a trailer and some data vendors send their best lot which sometime could be dangerous too if the final batch has irrelevant contacts but still it tells you how much your potential list vendor is able to understand your target audience. Period!

3.     Guarantees: This is something that is being offered by many vendors in the market however if you read their fine prints, you will find that the accuracy is either limited to just emails or connectivity. When finalizing the database with the vendors, be sure to confirm if their database is guaranteed, that not only the contact information is accurate, but their role and title meets your requirements.

4.     No Upfront Payment: I understand almost 95% of the database vendors including large data companies offer database with 100% upfront payment. However there are b2b data companies who can offer database without 100% upfront and with great quality where you are good to go with just 25% payment initially and then once you receive the database, you can pay the remainder on Net 15/ 30 terms.

5. Be Sure To Ask For References: When everything is finalized and you are happy and satisfied with all the commitments and quality guarantees offered to you, please ensure that you ask for at least 3 references who can provide you their experiences with your vendor. Industry specific references are always preferable.

It's a hectic task to pull diamond out of the mines, but if you try hard and select the best B2B list vendor that can really understand your target audience and provides solid value with a custom b2b list, you are sure to achieve best results and sales!