Purchasing a telemarketing or marketing list does not have to be a complicated process. List brokers can usually steer you toward a particular list or database to fit your needs as a direct marketer, however, no one knows your product and what you are trying to achieve with your marketing campaign better than you do.

List brokers and managers are however the experts as far as telemarketing or mailing lists go, so, knowing that, it is always best to be educated on the particular type of data you are looking for so that you are knowledgeable on the generics of purchasing a marketing list. The idea is to be almost as fluent in marketing list speak as the broker you are dealing with so that in essence, you are telling them what you want so they can provide you the best data for your marketing efforts.

Again, the idea is to relay to your list broker as much information as possible so that together you can find the best marketing list for your campaign.

Below are ten items you should have prepared when contacting your list broker:

• Geography: Know the geographical location you would like to market to. All list brokers should be able to determine quantities and deliver your marketing list by a number of geography types. Typically, the common methods used to target locations are by state, area code, zip code, county, and MSA’s (metro statistical area). Have a list of states, zip codes, area codes, etc. prepared to give your list broker. If there are numerous area codes or zip codes it wouldn’t hurt to list them all in an excel file which can then be emailed to your broker. The clarity of this will avoid any confusion.
• SAN #: A subscription account number is required by the Telemarketing Sales Rule for all telemarketers using marketing lists to target consumers (most non-profit organizations do not need a SAN #). In other words, if you are marketing to anyone but businesses and are not a non-profit business you do need a SAN #. The complete details and registration for a SAN # can be found here. A list broker will typically ask for a SAN # before you are able to purchase a telemarketing list. SAN #’s are accessed by area codes. The first five area codes you apply for are free and every area code thereafter costs a fee.
• Information Needed: What information do you need on file “output”? Output simply means the fields you will see when your telemarketing or mailing list is delivered to you. Usually a list company will deliver your telemarketing or mailing list to you in excel, .csv, or .txt file formats. First, determine which format you need your file in, whether you are using a predictive dialer system or printing the list out for example. Second, decide what information you need on output of your marketing list. For instance, if you are utilizing direct mail, you will certainly need not only zip code but zip +4 (the four digits that come after the zip code) on output. Or, do you need specific fields such as first and last name separated in to two separate fields for your dialer.
• Consumer Lists: Consumer lists are usually separated in to two categories. Consumer lists and responder lists. A consumer list comes from a consumer database and usually contains information such as first and last name, full address, phone number, income, age range, children present, and homeowners or renters. There are numerous selects available on a typical consumer database for you to choose from. Be sure to ask your list broker for a complete guide to the selects available on their companies particular consumer database. From there, you should identify the selects, or criteria, of the consumers you would like to target.
• Responder Lists: Next are responder lists. There are thousands of different responder lists in which consumers have responded to various offers, either by purchasing a product or simply responding to a product offer asking for more information. Responder lists can be compiled in many ways, such as internet responders, direct mail responders, telemarketing responders, and even drop box responders. Usually, “buyers” files, where consumers have purchased a product, are the most responsive leads, and the most expensive.
• New Homeowners/New Movers: Additionally, New Homeowners and New Movers are another type of consumer list which can benefit your marketing campaign. New Homeowners are just that, consumers that have recently purchased a new home. New Movers would simply relate to consumers, such as renters, who have recently changed their residence. Both of these files are updated on a weekly and even daily basis, allowing you to contact these consumers as soon as possible. The idea here is that many of these new homeowners and new movers, having changed their residence, will be in need of certain services or products that they left behind at an old residence.
  Note: Determine which type of consumer list fits your needs based on the product or service you are offering and relay to your broker which you intend to purchase. Depending on your offer, either a consumer database file, responder leads, or new mover / new homeowner lists will work for you.


• Business to Business Leads: B2B leads and lists can also be an excellent marketing prospects. Basically, there are two types of B2B leads, existing businesses and new businesses. Existing businesses are compiled in databases, and are typically selectable by 40 to 50 different criteria including annual revenue, contact titles, SIC Code, employee size, square footage, and many more. New business leads are updated on a weekly or daily basis just as the new mover and new homeowner files are. New businesses are often very responsive for to various offers, however, new business lists are not selectable by near the amount of criteria an existing business database may be. Again, be sure to ask your list broker for a complete guide of available selects.
• Suppression Files: Now, assuming you may have purchased a telemarketing or mailing list previously, you have to take in to consideration providing your list broker a suppression file. When consistently purchasing marketing lists within the same geographical location it is very possible to receive a certain consumers information in multiple lists. You don’t want to do this for at least two very obvious reasons, you have already paid for that information (there is no reason you should pay for it again), and, you most likely want to reach as many new potential prospects as possible. To avoid receiving duplicate data, simply add the contents of every file to a new file which is always updated with your list purchases. It can also not hurt to add a date field to your suppression file so that you can tell when each individual record was added to the suppression file. Your suppression file can now be sent to your list broker to “suppress” out any duplicate records, meaning you will only receive, fresh, unique data for your marketing campaign.
• Terminology: I also wanted to take some time here to simply list a couple of the terms used in this post, and maybe a few more, along with descriptions just to add some clarity.
  1. DNC: The infamous Do Not Call list. Everybody has heard of it, and if you are utilizing telemarketing lists, you should know what it does. The reason I put this first is that many direct marketers don’t realize there is a Federal Do Not Call List as well as individual State Do Not Call Lists. Not all states have their own DNC databases, but many do, and you should adhere to them as well. Just a quick note also, approximately 75% to 80% of the callable universe is on the Federal Do Not Call List, meaning, out of a consumer database of 220 million consumers only about 150 million of those records will have phone numbers. Now, of the 150 million records with phone numbers, about 116 million of those records are on the Federal DNC. This means all telemarketers who are not non-profits are competing for the business of the same 30 to 35 million consumers. A good list broker will always “scrub” your list against the federal DNC, however, state do not call lists are typically the end user’s (you) responsibility. Scrubbing just means the process of removing records that have phone numbers on the do not call list from a marketing list.
  2. Select: Selects are the criteria by which a file can be filtered for your campaign. Example of selects include age range, income range, FICO score, and way too many others to list.
  3. Counts: A count is a breakdown of how many records are available in your marketing geography. Counts will include any of the selects you have chosen for your campaign and depending on your marketing campaign should already be scrubbed against the federal DNC.
  4. Universe: A specific database or file has what is referred to as a universe. This simply pertains to the total number of records available in that particular database.
  5. Hotline: Responder databases, new mover/new homeowner files, new business lists, and other consistently updated databases will have hotlines. This is the freshest updated feed of a particular database. Some files are updated monthly, weekly, or daily, therefore, you can request monthly, weekly, and daily hotlines. Keep in mind a monthly, weekly, daily hotline will have a monthly, weekly, daily universe as well as a total universe record count dating back to a specified date, whether it is 6 months, 1 year, or more.
  6. Pricing: Direct marketers should know that the list industry in general uses pricing such as $100/M. The M does not mean monthly. The M actually means per 1,000 records. So, a file of 5,000 records with a price of $100/M would have a cost of $.10 per record for a total cost of $500.00.
  7. SIC Code: Standard Industrial Classification. SIC codes pertain only to business data as an SIC code is simply a method in which the government assigns a business a specific numerical SIC code that refers to a distinct classification for that industry. NAICS – North American Industry Classification System is a very similar system to SIC codes. Your list broker should be able to query their existing business database by either method.
  8. Suppression: I also wanted to add a little on this topic. A suppression is simply when your list broker takes your existing lead database, queries it against their master database, and establishes a new list for you comprised solely of unique records. In other words, weeding out any duplicates. A suppression is usually done by comparing phone numbers and/or addresses.
• Negotiation: Here is the fun part. Most list brokers will have a base price per record for their database’s. In addition, you may have to pay for additional selects such as phone numbers, age, income, married, etcetera. Negotiating a small first order with a list broker may be a fruitless effort, however, as you place more orders with larger volume, your list broker should be willing to negotiate better pricing for you.

In conclusion, as said from the beginning, purchasing a marketing list does not have to be a difficult process. Some direct marketers may have poor opinions of the list industry, but as with anything, sometimes a lack of clarity and indecisiveness on your part may inhibit a list brokers ability to best serve you. So, remember the key, be knowledgeable, clear and concise in what you are looking for, and use a reputable list broker. Hopefully the tools above will help you do just that and best of luck with all of your direct marketing efforts!

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