To dominate in sales to independent living services businesses, it's necessary to pursue a segmented marketing strategy -- and that means you have to be thoughtful in assembling your prospect lists.

Using Lead Lists for Direct Marketing

With direct mail, you only get one chance to capture a prospect's attention. When a independent living services business decisionmaker reads your piece, he has to be knocked over by what he sees.

Most businesses invest heavily in the creation of each direct mail piece. But here's the kicker: All of the time, energy and resources you invest in 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 independent living services business names to a list -- it's about producing a high quality list of independent living services business sales prospects.

Attributes of Good Sales Leads

Not sure what to look for in a great lead list vendor? We recommend: accuracy, updating and speed.

First-tier list providers like Experian Business Services have created large independent living services business databases to give their clients the most up-to-date leads in the industry.

When choosing a independent living services business list vendor, you'll want to make conversion your first priority. The more accurate and targeted your lead list is, the higher your conversion rate will be. However, you'll also want to consider how long it takes the vendor to fulfill list requests. In today's business climate, even small delays can bring sales and marketing processes to a standstill.

Measuring Lead List ROI

Multiple methods exist for measuring the effectiveness of independent living services business lead lists.

For starters, conversion rate (number of sales/number of leads) is essential in measuring lead list success and failure rates. 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 can reveal how well each of your team members is using the leads they receive from your vendor.