To succeed in selling to telecommunications contractors businesses, it's necessary to pursue a segmented marketing strategy -- and we think lead lists are what can help you make that happen.

Criteria for Lead List Vendor Selection

In our experience, there are a lot of variations among lead list vendors and Experian Business services stand out from the crowd. Unlike other vendors on the market, Experian has all of the qualities we look for in a good lead list provider, including the following:

• Large database. We think it's important for businesses that sell to telecommunications contractors businesses to cull their leads from an expansive business database. Why? Because more contacts equates to a higher volume of truly qualified leads.
• Updated contacts. Contact updating is lead list 101. Long contact lists are worthless unless they are regularly updated for accuracy.
• Delivery speed. When your business needs a new supply of telecommunications contractors business leads, you can't afford to suffer delays from your vendor. Good list providers deliver tailored lead lists in hours or less.

Leads vs. Prospects

If you've done your homework, your provider will deliver a current lead list that has been sorted according to company size, years in business, zip code and other criteria. But your work isn't done yet. Unless you are using the lists for mass marketing campaigns (e.g. direct mail), your sales force will still need to conduct lead qualification. Since the telecommunications contractors business contacts have been culled from a larger group of updated prospects, you'll have better higher conversion rates -- but you'll still need to expend energy to achieve maximum return on your investment.

Ramping Sales and Profits with B2B Lead Lists

Mass market advertising won't work when selling to telecommunications contractors businesses. You can spend a small fortune on a visually appealing ad and go virtually unnoticed in the industry. In contrast to other marketing resources, lead lists allow you to target your messaging toward a select group of prospects. When selling to telecommunications contractors businesses, the ability to focus sales and marketing efforts on specific categories of prospects can be mission critical.

What Else Can Lead Brokers Do For You?

You can tap your lead brokers for other things, assuming they are good firms with deep resources. In some cases, your list broker may have a range of consulting services. They also can clean your existing lists of prospects for you. Finally, if you send the list company a few prospects that you think are a good fit for your business, they can find similar leads for you.