Nowadays, blacksmiths businesses want companies that sell to them to locate them. On the upside, a modest investment in lead databases can enable the process required to identify high value leads throughout the industry.

How to Tell If You Have a Good Lead List

The best lead lists share several characteristics that are essential in selling to blacksmiths businesses. Right out of the gate, you'll want a list that has been generated from a large contact database. For example, Experian Business Services offers B2B lead lists that have been culled from more than 14 million active U.S. businesses. For sellers to blacksmiths businesses, a large database equates to a larger pool of targeted sales prospects. Since lead quality has a significant influence on conversion, you'll also want to focus your efforts on providers that are well established and reputable.

Invest in Lead Lists and Watch Your Business Grow

There's a misperception that lead lists are an optional expense for B2B sales divisions. In fact, a good lead list is an investment in your company's future. The blacksmiths business contacts you acquire through a reputable lead list provider are potential long-term clients. Additionally, lead lists can deliver an ROI that meets or even exceeds the ROI you receive from other high-producing assets in your company.

Measuring Lead List ROI

There are a lot of way to measure the impact of blacksmiths business lead lists.

For starters, conversion rate (number of sales/number of leads) is clearly the most important metric in determining the success or failure of a specific lead list. But you may also want to think about integrating a few other metrics into your assessment routine.

A units-per-lead measurement demonstrates the quality of the leads in your lists. When compared to your internal lead generation metrics, a dismal units-per-lead number indicate a provider that isn't performing adequate qualification or lead filtering. Along the same lines, individual metrics for your sales staff demonstrate how well each of your team members is using the leads they receive through a third-party supplier.