Lead management is important to any business, and especially a small business. Over the years, it has become apparent that it is all about the list for a marketing campaign to be successful. A lead list allows businesses to have someone to contact and sell to, regardless of what is being sold. It also provides a simple way to communicate to these people about any news or events concerning the business.
In my early career days, I heard, ‘It’s all about the list.’ I thought well, it does not take a rocket scientist to generate a list. Can creating a list be complicated and challenging? These thoughts may have crossed a small business owner’s mind. Anyone can make a list, but not necessarily a useful one. It does take some skill to generate a quality list, especially for a small business.
Leads need to be captured or generated. There are many ways to go about doing this. A business can purchase lead lists from a vendor, based on the type of leads and list. A business can also build a list using auto responder, or a business can rent a list.
Rules and guidelines have to be followed before contacting a potential lead. The regulations vary depending on the method of contact. For example, a telemarketing list has to be scrubbed for ‘DNC’. What is that, you ask? DNC stands for ‘Do Not Call’ and it’s a federal and state requirement that telemarketers have to abide by. Consumers who have registered as DNC need to be removed from your list.
If a business wants to target previous customers, a National Change of Address scrub is essential for targeting previous customers to see if they have moved. Then there are possible industry regulations that may need to be followed. There are many steps in refining a successful list. And of course, the list has to identify, define, and target the best customers, prospects, and markets.
Studies show that 40 percent of success is exclusively dependent on the quality of a list. Emphasizing lead quality increases sales efficiency, decreases campaign costs and helps close the gap between sales and marketing. Creating and refining a list takes time and a lot of effort, but is well worth it.
