Buying sales leads has been a staple of doing business for the longest while. In fact, acquiring sales leads by using SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes is what made companies like Dun & Bradstreet famous. Today’s list brokers utilize research and lots of filters to help companies choose lists that closely match their desired profile. But after all is said and done, list buyers are still sending unsolicited e-mails to prospective leads. Here are three reasons this practice may not be desirable:
1. Your messages may not be welcomed
Even if the prospective leads ‘opted in’ to receive messages from companies like yours, they did not agree to receive messages from your organization. So your prospects don’t know who you are. And they’ll likely consider your messages to be unwanted and intrusive.
2. Buying sales leads has been a staple of doing business for the longest while.
Chances are you’re not very happy when you receive e-mails from companies you’re never heard of. Similarly, the business leaders who receive your unsolicited, lead-seeking e-mails will very likely consider them to be an intrusion. Forcing your e-mail content on a company too early puts you at risk for losing their trust and future business.
That said, the fact that a company hasn’t opted in to communicate with you doesn’t mean the organization don’t want to hear from you. You just need to prove to them that it’s in their best interest to stay in touch with you via e-mail. And you can accomplish this through methods like helpful content and valuable offers online.
3. You run the risk of becoming a spammer
If the companies you contact via e-mail never opted in to receive messages from you, they may flag your messages as spam. This could trigger future e-mails from you to land in the spam box. And your e-mail provider would find out. If enough people flag your messages as spam, you can get blacklisted. Should this happen, you’ll have a very difficult time getting off the blacklist.
Also, you have no way of knowing whether the e-mail addresses you bought have already been identified as spam through previous e-mail blasts. So using a bought e-mail list can tarnish the reputation of your IP address and your company.
Forget list buying; start building relationships
So how should your company develop leads in today’s digitized world? Today’s business owners utilize the internet, social media and other platforms to gain information about companies with whom they wish to do business. As a result, you need to position your company in a place where prospective leads will find you and build a relationship with you. Then, the communications naturally move offline and results in sales.
Why Not Buy Leads? Use LinkedIn Targeted Sales Generator
The best way to get started on this process is to use the LinkedIn Targeted Sales Generator™ from Spearhead Sales & Marketing. This relationship-building and sales system works by implementing programs that are technology enabled, creatively executed and strategically deployed. Visit the LinkedIn Targeted Sales Generator now.