Any decent call center dialer can enable a representative to handle a hundred conversations a day, sometimes more. It takes thousands of leads to keep a hungry rep busy full-time. For a team, you need an even longer telemarketing list.
Making a list is difficult. And yes, I know about all the Google Maps scrapers and AI lead-gen tools out there. Some are amazing, but building a list of contacts that actually helps the sales team make money still takes a high degree of human involvement. I’ve paid people $5k a month (sometimes a lot more) for lister roles.
So the prospect of a telemarketing list with all the research and verification done ahead of time is really attractive. I understand how Buying business leads The work, and effort that goes into creating these lists.
$25k for a telemarketing list? If the volume and quality of leads is good, that price can easily come out to me.
But the list should be good. It should be full of fresh, relevant contacts, and free of potential legal exposure for my agents and the organization.
The truth is that not every telemarketing list meets these requirements. Even a good list that is old or reused will cause problems.
The dangers of buying low-quality telemarketing lists
Buying low-quality telemarketing lists is not worth it. There are far more serious risks if you accidentally use a bad one:
- Wasted resources: The information in these lists is often not worth what you pay for them, and you could end up spending a lot of money on outdated, useless information.
- Non-productive Access: If your agents are spending all their time calling numbers that are out of service or irrelevant to your needs, that’s time they’re not spending calling actual leads or customers. have been
- Negative impact on your business reputation: Everyone hates spam calls, and if you work from a bad list, your company’s calls will feel exactly the same. It’s not worth the risk to your reputation.
Even the best Cold call script Not a single rep in the world is calling a list of dead leads. A low-quality list puts reps in a no-win situation and can easily get carried away. Call Center Burnout.
Using a bad list also comes with several legal and financial risks. These lists often contain numbers that are on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, and if you call one of these numbers, your company could be held liable. Up to $50,120 per call.
That’s right. Over $50,000 for one phone call.
This is true even if you call using an outbound dialer, so you need to be extremely careful about who you are calling.
If you continue to call numbers on the DNC registry, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may even sue your business.
Signs of a telemarketing trash list
So how do you know if your hands are on the bad list? Here are some signs.
- Incomplete or inconsistent contact information: If the list is missing data or contains inconsistently formatted entries, it is likely to be a bad list. This isn’t always true, but it’s not a big sign, and can cause problems or extra work when you import/export the list.
- Old information: Sometimes you may find a timestamp that indicates the data is out of date. Often you’ll find addresses for stores that have moved locations, those that have changed employers, and other details that can help you determine when the listing was made.
- High Bounce Rate: All listings will have some level of bounce rate, but if the listing you’re looking at has one. Bounce rate over 10%you should not buy it.
- Low response rate: Likewise, if the list you’re looking at has a below-average response rate, skip it. Anything less than 10% is a red flag.
- Duplicate Entries: This is a sign that the list has not been reviewed or cleaned for a long time, if at all, and is of low quality. Be on the lookout for names that might not immediately appear to be duplicates. For example, it may include the same contact with their middle name in one entry and without it in another.
- Irrelevant or Ineligible Contacts: Some people go into the process of buying telemarketing lists thinking that any batch of contacts is better than no contacts at all, but this is not true. If the list you’re looking at has a bunch of people who have never shown any interest in your industry or company, skip it.
- Bad sources of data: Data sourcing standards vary widely from company to company, so do some digging and see if you can find out where your prospect list’s data comes from. Better ones have data from verifiable sources, such as networking platforms, business websites, and utility lists. Lists you don’t want will either not list their data sources at all, or will only list vague, unverifiable sources.
- Lack of Distribution: Low-quality telemarketing lists are a free-for-all — anyone can have contact information on them, regardless of who they are and what they’re interested in. Avoid lists that are not allowed. Customer segmentation. Any good vendor in this space will give you the tools to make sure your list is filled with contacts that are relevant to your industry. For example, if you’re fundraising for a nonprofit, a good vendor will allow distribution based on past donation activity.
Now, admittedly, all of this is easier said than done.
The problem is that buyers often have to make a decision before they know what they’re getting, because most sellers don’t let you review the listing before you buy. And even if they let you preview part of the list, there’s no guarantee that it’s representative of the quality you’ll land on.
So before anything else, look for red flags in your potential telemarketing list providers, including:
- Unrealistically low prices.
- No reference or definition.
- Promises that seem too good to be true.
- Lack of transparency about data sources.
Although there is little or no regulation in this field, you can often find reviews of these companies that can give you more information about the quality of their listings, and about the companies you get from the FTC. Can also search for any news or updates. On the Bad Side of the DNC Registry.
How to Verify the Quality of Telemarketing Lists
Once you’ve ticked sketchy sellers off your list, look for positive signs in the remaining contenders. Here’s how you can verify the quality of a telemarketing list:
- Transparency: If the company can’t explain to you how it collects its data in a way you can easily understand, don’t buy the list. You should also ask them about their consent practices and get a clear understanding of how it ensures that everyone on the list actually wants to be on the list.
- Data Security: Likewise, you should verify that the vendor collects and stores data in compliance with security regulations. Information should be kept in as few places as possible, data should not be shared over unencrypted communication channels, and only those who need access to the data for a specific reason should have access.
- Positive customer reviews: Check to see if the company has any reviews from businesses like yours. If possible, contact some of these businesses to hear more about their experience and results.
- Customization Options: This is a subtle but important one. Low-quality lists include all kinds of people from all kinds of demographics, without much consideration of whether they are relevant contacts or not. High-quality lists will allow you to customize them to meet the needs of your business, so you don’t get any irrelevant contacts.
- Price: Finally, high-quality telemarketing lists are almost always worth more than low-quality lists. Remember, the higher the quality of the listing, the higher the price.
The importance of maintaining quality in telemarketing lists
Once you have a good list, you also need to make sure it stays clean. Following basic data hygiene practices. Always keep your list secure, and be careful with other people’s data. Don’t share information over unencrypted means of communication, such as text or email, and be careful who has access to the data.
You will need to regularly update your list, review the list of numbers that are no longer in service or are no longer relevant to your company’s interests, and remove them from the list. Make sure you update any outdated information as well. For example, if someone has gotten married and changed their last name, make sure it appears on your list.
While you’re doing this, also look for numbers in the DNC registry and remove them. You should check it regularly. The time it takes is worth it if it potentially saves you a $50,000 fine.
Maintaining the quality of your contact database is essential to avoid some very serious consequences, and the responsibility for maintaining a clean contact list does not end with purchasing a good list.
You need to do ongoing work to keep your list clean and compliant. While this involves some extra work, it’s more than worth it in terms of protecting your reputation, avoiding potential legal consequences, and actually getting a positive return on your investment.
Telemarketing doesn’t have to be annoying – one of the best ways to make sure your organization doesn’t contribute to the problem is to use high-quality lists and keep them up-to-date.