In order to successfully sell to materials handling equipment and supplies wholesale and manufacturers businesses, it's necessary to pursue a segmented marketing strategy -- and that means you have to be thoughtful in assembling your prospect lists.

Reasons to Buy Lead Lists

You might be asking why you need to buy lead lists. After all, couldn't you compile your own list of quality leads using in-house sales personnel? Sure -- but in-house lead generation is usually much less efficient than purchasing leads from a third-party specialist.

You'll get higher ROI from proven list providers because they have massive industry databases that are updated regularly for accuracy. Time after time, lead lists result in more efficient - and more productive - sales cycles.

Use Lead Lists to Reach Off-List Leads

Many business owners don't fully appreciate how lead lists can expand their prospect pool, sometimes even beyond the names contained in the list itself. After you have qualified the materials handling equipment and supplies wholesale and manufacturers businesses on the list, each contact becomes a portal a larger network of materials handling equipment and supplies wholesale and manufacturers business contacts that can be tapped into through telemarketing, sales calls and online social networking.

By using lead lists as a catalyst for business networking, you extend the list's ROI far beyond the initial campaign. Although you will likely purchase additional lists later, you'll improve your industry presence when you conduct follow up networking with the leads you acquire right now.

Criteria for Lead List Vendor Selection

In our experience, third-party lead list providers are definitely not created equal and Experian Business services stand out from the crowd. What sets them apart is that Experian has all of the qualities we look for in a first-rate lead list provider, including the following:

• Large database. We think it's important for businesses that sell to materials handling equipment and supplies wholesale and manufacturers businesses to use a provider with an exceptionally large business database. Why? Because more contacts translates into better leads and more conversions.
• Updated contacts. Contact updating is lead list 101. A high volume of contacts is worthless unless they are regularly updated for accuracy.
• Delivery speed. When your business needs a fresh injection of materials handling equipment and supplies wholesale and manufacturers business leads, you can't afford to suffer delays from your vendor. Good list providers respond to client requests in hours or less.

Creative Ways to Get Sales Leads

Finding new customers by buying business lead lists from lead database vendors is a great start to any lead gen initiative. Still, make sure you take a creative approach to finding leads.

For example, try calling up a peer company that sells to the same market as you do but is not a direct competitor. Ask them if they are interested in swapping leads. This is a great way to get access to leads that may not be getting many calls from your competitors.