How to Gain Quality Lists for Outbound Sales Reps – Top List Providers

The top list providers for outbound inside sales professionalsWithin the inside sales industry, we survive off of the lists and leads of those companies we can contact and try to sell our products to. There are hundreds of list providers that all promise the same thing—more qualified leads. The process of choosing a list to start calling from can make all the difference in the world. Depending on your target audience, one list provider can be much more valuable than another. What’s important to remember is that certain list providers cater to different needs. Make sure that you have an end goal in sight when deciding which provider to purchase your lists from.

Here’s my list of some of the more well-known list providers and their associated strengths:

  • Zoominfo offers a great resource of contact information. Their greatest strength is offering more contacts per company for a more targeted list. Users are able to identify contacts by industry terms, keywords, and job titles.
  • NetProspex offers the largest targeted list you can get for B2B marketing and sales. They also will alert their users when a new prospect enters into their target market.
  • InsideView excels in providing company information in addition to outstanding sales intelligence. For example, InsideView scans the web for any publicity and press related news to that specific company such as new acquisitions or expansions.
  • Formally Jigsaw.com, Data.com offers company and contact information through a socially powered B2B directory updated daily.
  • Recently acquired by Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers is known for their low cost and their ability to generate credit reports. This is extremely helpful in trying to gauge if a company is financially stable. Their database consists of 65 million corporations and 85 million people covering 900 industries.
  • The second largest list provider, infoUSA.com offers wholesale rates and the sales genie monthly subscription allowing subscribers to create multiple lists. Among their sales and mailing lists, infoUSA.com offers business and consumer specialty lists, Canadian businesses, new businesses, bankruptcy filings, religious marketing lists, and much more.
  • While not a list service, the leading B2B prospecting social network, LinkedIn, can be used to provide incredible sales intelligence, free of cost.
  • Recently acquired by InfoGroup, OneSource provides excellent data to drive sales and marketing efforts.

Whichever provider you choose is entirely up to you and your sales team. Just remember how important it is that you pre-qualify and research all of the list options to get the best source for the list you are generating.

What are some of your favorite list providers and why? Let me know which ones have been the most helpful to your sales teams in the comment box below.

Author: Ken Krogue |
Summary of Ken Krogue’s Forbes articles

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