Prospect Lists

A business prospect list is a collection of company names, addresses and other contact details hosted in a database form, such as Excel, Access or one of many crm software packages.

All prospect lists supplied by Responsiva are fully transferrable into your crm software system, or you will not be charged for the data.

That is our guarantee. The most common prospect list data format Responsiva are requested for is Excel; either version 97-2003 or 2005 formats. However, text or csv formats are just as easily supplied without any surcharge.

Whilst all respectable crm software packages will read these formats, it is highly advisable to check prior to specifying and purchasing a prospect list from your chosen list broker.
Furthermore, whilst all crm software packages can host what could be deemed “regular” data (company name, address, telephone number and contact names etc) there may be some additional data fields that your software might not manage. Fields such as;

• Premise type
• Industry classification (codes and descriptions)
• Number of sites
• Length of residency in premise
• Turnover
• Number of employees

And there will be some customized data fields you will wish to append to your prospect list, such as any existing contracts and obligations to their current suppliers.

In many companies a crm system is not used to manage the prospect list; the list is simply stored in a spreadsheet format and mail-merged onto a prospect letter as and when required. If this is the case then the spreadsheet should be managed (as a minimum) as follows:

• Date your spreadsheet
• Add a separate worksheet/tab to store notes:

• When does the prospect list license expire?
• Where was it purchased?
• Add a communication history column to include:

• Date of last communication
• Method of last communication
• Any response result and action

And most important of all, ensure that any communicated responses to provide you with updates to the database are auctioned. This may include the changing of a key contact name within the prospect list, or an update to the address. Every time you don’t do this, a record has been lost from your prospect list.

If managed well, a simple prospect list like this should last you for about one year.
With telemarketing updates and regular communication with your prospects, the data will last longer.

The golden rule is that if a record from your prospect list no longer wishes to receive communication from you then ensure this is updated accordingly. Deleting the prospect from your list altogether might actually be a bad thing. The reason is that you may then source another list (at a later date) from a different list broker, which brings this prospect back into your marketing pot!
The best way to manage these prospects is to store them at a company level (i.e., full business name, address and telephone number) on a different spreadsheet: a “Suppression” list.
This is a list of “do not contact” companies, and every time you buy in new data, screen it against this suppression list and remove the matches from your marketing prospect lists.

For more information on how this might be of benefit to your business, give us a call at Responsiva: 0800 118 5000. Or send an email to info@responsiva.biz