B2B Prospect Lists

Mailing Lists for Home Improvement Stores

Selling to home improvement stores is fraught with obstacles for reaching your prospects. We explain how to use niche direct mailing lists to jumpstart revenue growth.

It's not unusual for B2B sellers to eventually hit a wall in lead generation. But for companies that sell to home improvement stores, scarcity of leads may come sooner rather than later.

The process of locating legitimate leads can be difficult for companies that sell in this industry. Our lead list guidelines contain useful tips for quickly ramping up your lead generation program and improving sales volume.

Using Lead Lists for Direct Marketing

With direct mail, you have to get it right the first time. When a home improvement store decisionmaker reads your piece, he has to be knocked over by what he sees.

Most businesses invest large sums of money in the creation of each direct mail piece. But the effort and resources you put into your direct mail marketing channel will be wasted unless your pieces are seen by the right people. Consequently, lead generation isn't just about adding home improvement store names to a list -- it's about producing a high quality list of home improvement store sales prospects.

Interviewing Lead List Providers

B2B sellers that rely on lead lists are advised to interview several prospects before settling on a provider. Interviews should focus on whether or not the provider is capable of delivering lists of contacts that have been filtered and updated within the past thirty days. This is especially important for home improvement stores given the industry's high turnover rates. If you aren't sure where to begin your search, we recommend starting with Experian. Experian is a reputable vendor with a proven track record in producing high converting leads for the B2B sector.

Use Your Lead Lists for Both Marketing and Sales

If you limit the use of home improvement store lead lists to direct mail and cold calling, you're not getting the best possible return for your investment. A well-crafted lead list can serve as a collaborative resource for sales, marketing and other business divisions. For example, after you have acquired a lead list that has been differentiated geographically, your marketing division could test a handful of marketing concepts in each area. If the marketing division's efforts are coordinated with the sales division, you could then evaluate outcomes and adjust your approach to each area rather than launching a generic sales campaign.

How Do Lead List Brokers Get Their Data?

Great question. The really good sales lead providers are constantly conducting extensive research to refine and enhance their available inventory of business leads. Among other things, they scan a variety of government databases, business magazines, and other data sources. In contrast, on the other side of the spectrum, be aware that there are some companies that sell out-of-date leads.

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