HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIST BROKER RELATIONSHIP SUCCESSFUL

HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIST BROKER RELATIONSHIP SUCCESSFUL, EFFICIENT AND EDUCATIONAL.

Remember thelist broker on the old TV series LA Law? He (actor Dann Florek as direct mail guru David Meyer) was depicted as boring and dull. NOTHING is further from the truth when it comes to REAL list brokers. Our work is INTERESTING, challenging and precise. We work very, very hard to make our clients successful.

By understanding how a list agency works, you can gain a hand-in-hand relationship with your broker. Here is what goes on behind the scenes.

Knowing what questions to ask and what the broker needs to know is the first key.

Here are a few tips and answers to good basic questions:

Where do lists come from? Lists can be from directories, certifications, attendees, subscribers, surveys, members of associations, internet listings. They can be responders or can be a match to a particular profile drawn from multiple sources.

How does a broker make money? A broker receives a standard commission from the list owner, compiler or manager off of the retail base price of the list you purchase. Your research is free.

Why use a broker? A broker has access to an abundance of research mechanisms that allows them to survey the entire world of available lists, using online word searches, directories and systems that are unique and expensive for most mailers to obtain, allowing the broker to compare many lists and sources on behalf of their client. There are thousands of list sources.

How does a broker understand how to target a particular market? We work with so many different industries, professional disciplines and product offerings, it is necessary to understand how to find your distinct prospect. Brokers look at a market from a point of view ofwhat does the person read, purchase or is affiliated with? This is the starting point where you can help your broker do her best research.

What do you gain by price comparison from one broker to another? Although you may find small variables in pricing protocols, the knowledge of your broker and how a list is fulfilled may differ substantially from one broker to another. For example, by understanding professions well, your broker may be able to find more potential prospects in the very same list for your offer. Is that worth paying for? I would say so.

How can you save money using a broker if the retail price is the same? By working with a single broker who can pull together multiple recommendations, you can assure that there isn’t overlap between lists either with selective ordering or by merging lists together and dropping the duplicates. They can advocate for you regarding competitive issues or negotiate multi-use for frequently rented lists. By looking at the whole marketing plan an experienced broker can see ways to both save excess expense and gain greater response in your efforts.

Why be very open about your offer? What is an offer? It is the product or service you are trying to sell, drive attendance to or attract members for. The more specific you are in defining your offer the better job your broker can do with list profile matching and avoiding competitive issues up front.

Why is there usually a minimum number of names? To produce, maintain and quality control a list order requires technical expertise, detailed record keeping and rigorous quality control. About 5,000 names represents that break even point.

What is meant by one-time-use and why can’t you just take the list and use it over again? One-time-use means use of the list is limited to one mailing for the approved offer. The list is seeded with decoy names to identify misuse. Misuse can include reuse without authorization or use for an offer that has not been preapproved. Strict penalties can apply and the list owner will be unlikely rent to you again. Fresh names and clean addresses are worth the cost of the list.

How fast can you get a list? Although a list broker can RUSH your list order within a few hours, there are several things you don’t get by doing that. Research takes time. Comparison shopping to ascertain the best lists with the largest number of qualified prospects is desirable as well as thinking through details such as selection criteria, expansion of geographical limits, title addressing, key coding, NCOA, merge/purge against house names and many other variables that serve to elevate your response. In addition, a second or third QC ritual helps eliminate any errors or oversights. Your broker prefers not to RUSH your important list order.

How much time ideally should you give a list broker for a postal list? In a best case scenario, your broker would like a at least a day to research comparative lists to present to you, a second day to confirm pricing and quantities for your choices and a third day to process the details accurately and fulfill your order into the hands of your mail house. In other words, three to five days is ideal.

What about EMAIL? There are lots of new EMAIL lists coming onto the market all the time. Your list broker has industry-specific research tools to find the newest EMAIL lists.

Is EMAIL better than direct mail? EMAIL has its advantages and so does postal mail. For one thing EMAIL response is immediate. On the other hand, postal mail leaves a visual reminder on the prospect’s desk that may serve as a reminder until he is ready to buy.

Why is EMAIL more expensive? In fact, if you look at the over all cost of printing, mailing and postage for your postal campaign EMAIL marketing can be a real bargain.

What is required to do an EMAIL broadcast? PCS provides a checklist to help along the complex process. A copy can be obtained by asking any of our brokers prior to considering an EMAIL campaign. We work hand in hand with you.

Why can’t you buy EMAIL names outright? There are a lot of regulations regarding use of EMAIL. We protect the list renter as well as the list owner by ensuring that you are in compliance. We manage the process through our technology services and use third party deployment services to protect your IP address. EMAIL addresses are more transient than postal addresses so we constantly update and authenticate addresses to be as up-to-date as possible.

What can you expect with renting phone numbers? For one thing, FTC Regulations apply to the practice of calling home numbers. Telemarketers must have a SAN (Subscription Account Number) registration. Residential phone numbers are generally supplied with Do Not Call registrants removed. Phone numbers must be used within 31 days from this process. Even with these protocols, you might still reach people who believe that they are on the DNC registry that have either recently registered or registered in a way that the DNC match does not pick up. It is important to have a well-crafted and courteous script to deal with this.

Are professional recruiters exempt? Language in the FTC Rules is vague here, although most suppliers and recruiting renters of phone lists believe that they are. Clearly military recruiting is exempt.

What is the accuracy rate of phone numbers? With so many people using cell numbers as their primary number, the challenges for telemarketers are increasing. Often numbers will be accurate as listed because there is a house phone, although the family members are less likely to answer it with a caller ID they don’t recognize. Even answering messages are being used less frequently on house phones. With so many competing providers, transience of numbers is high these days.

Because of these changes, how can you make phone lists work better? Pairing direct mail with phone lists, as well as with EMAIL can help the efficacy of your campaign. Be sure to inquire of your list provider for lists that offerunlimited,multi-use orfull record as it can be a very economical way of increasing response.

Creating an open dialog with your list provider is the best way to gain the highest response with your campaign. When you have concerns about price or sources, ask the broker questions. The more you each know about each other’s needs and expectations, the better you can be matched with lists that will create successes for all of your campaign. And success is the point, after all, isn’t it?

PCS List & Information Technologies is a full service 30 year old compiler, broker and manager of quality marketing lists and customized targeting solutions. www.pcslist.com

Call TOLL FREE 1-800-532-LIST(5478)