Sourcing Data – What’s the Big Deal?
Data is data, right? Well yes data is data, but like an apple is an apple, how good is that apple to eat?
The same with data, you can have green unripe data, with some good basic information but also with a lot of blanks. Then you have overripe data,where nothing has been updated in ages, where contact names and telephone numbers have all changed. The holy grail to any successful B2B telemarketing campaign is good ripe up-to date data. In recent years a database has moved from being a seldom utilised, inaccurate marketing aid to a significant differentiator in an organisation’s success.
A good quality marketing database is now business critical. It is the foundation of sales and marketing campaigns. So, if a database is so critical, what impact does bad data have?
To start with, what is meant by ‘bad data’? In simple telemarketing terms, it can be defined as a record where at least one of the following applies:
- the company is no longer trading
- the contact no longer works at that organisation
- there is no telephone number listed
- the name is incorrectly spelt
In most cases, bad data is either from a poorly purchased list or the client’s own CRM and this is compounded when marketing activities are infrequent resulting in irregularly maintained and updated records.
Bad data cuts telemarketing return on investment (ROI) by up to 30% and significant time, and therefore cost, is added to a sales project if the data is poor. It stands to reason, then, that it is crucial to kick off with a good standard of data.
So, where do you start if you don’t have an up-to-date database?
It is often cheaper to start again and then commit to maintaining the data. VSL has many years experience of helping organisations with database development, or where deemed viable has worked with a client to help them clean and thus ripen their data ready for harvesting.
Advances in technology means that identifying your ideal profile customer is more achievable, however the procedure involved can become complex and mystifying.
VSL guides their clients through each step of the process, providing them with clear and intelligent summaries of their data options. There is no technical substitute for skilled human intervention.
VSL conducts these impartial, whole-market searches either as part of the campaign brief or as a one off service to help get the company going with their own in-house sales and marketing campaign.
Remember the golden rule about B2B telemarketing is that good data is king, and bad data is the joker in the pack, and likewise is only useful as a place matt for you morning coffee.
For more information about how VSL can help ripen your data or source good data, then please contact us either by email sales@virtual-sales.com or call us on 01403 788481.