Although lead lists can shorten the sales process, many sales teams forget that it's important to buy quality lists from proven list providers.

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. What sets them apart is that 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 water filtration and purification equipment retail businesses to cull their leads from an expansive business database. Why? Because more contacts translates into better leads and more conversions.
• Updated contacts. Contact updating is the name of the game with lead lists. Long contact lists are worthless unless they are regularly updated for accuracy.
• Delivery speed. When your business needs a new supply of water filtration and purification equipment retail business leads, you can't afford to suffer delays from your vendor. Good list providers feature fast turnaround times measured in hours or less.

Lead List ROI

Think lead lists are cost-prohibitive? Think again! Although there is an added expense associated with lead lists, the overhead cost of maintaining an in-house lead generation program exceeds the amount of cash you'll spend to acquire a reliable list. Combined with the amount of organizational energy it takes to maintain constantly updated water filtration and purification equipment retail business contacts, it's not difficult to see why lead lists are an attractive alternative to internal processes.

Finding Sales Prospects

First-rate lead lists increase the odds of positive water filtration and purification equipment retail business responses. But before you can close deals, your sales team needs to activate the power of your list through prospecting.

Like it or not, you can't avoid the hard work of picking up the phone and using the lead list to qualify prospects. Although not every water filtration and purification equipment retail business on the list will greet your efforts with enthusiasm, the payoff for an investment in a targeted lead list will be noticeably higher conversion rates.

Types of Data Available from Lead Database Vendors

When buying business leads, you usually receive Company Name, Contact Name, Address and Phone Number. What you actually get depends on which mailing list company you do business with. In some cases, for example, you can get fields like Executive Titles, Email Addresses and Number of Employees.