Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

Lists are one of the cornerstones of any direct marketing program, whether it be a telemarketing list, a mailing list, a direct mailing list or a general marketing list. List quality can vary greatly, so it important to develop a relationship with a trusted List Broker, Telemarketing List Broker, Email List Broker, or Mailing List Broker.

If you have a bad list, you will struggle with your campaign, even if you have your most attractive offer and your best people selling it. A list is bad when it has unacceptable levels of wrong numbers, wrong geographic area, inaccurate data, or filters were not applied correctly. If you see more than 10% of your list as bad, I would request a refund from your List Broker.

Twenty percent of the US moves every year, so if a mailing list broker or a telemarketing list broker isn't updating his list at least quarterly, it can go bad quickly. Ask if they update their list against the Post Office's National Change of Address (NCOA) and how often they do so.

You should also ask if they scrub the list for duplicates and against the State and Federal Do Not Call lists if you are doing telemarketing. No sense in paying for records you won't be able to use.

Be ready to answer the following questions when talking to a list provider:

Are you trying to contact businesses or consumers?
What is your targeted geographic region?
Can you specify specific zip codes?
Are the following filters important:

-Age
-Gender
-Income
-Ethnicity
-Target IndustryTarget Job Title
-Approximately how many names do you want to contact?
 (realize that very few call centers will penetrate a list more that 70-80% of the total list count)

Generally, you will be charged at least a $500 minimum, not matter how few records you request.

If you are going to use the list for an outbound campaign, you need to register with the FTC for the Do Not Call list.

Here is information from the FTC about the Do Not Call legislation and procedures. You HAVE to know this stuff as there are huge fines for violators. The government is very serious about enforcement. Don't risk getting caught! This is from the FTC at:

https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/FAQ/FAQBusiness.aspx