How to Find New Names and Keep Your List Fresh

Thanks to the recession, the counts of many lists have gone down. So, what are you supposed to do to counteract decreasing file sizes? Where are you supposed to get names from so you can eventually build your own universe? Should you hoard your house file names? If everyone does that, where can the new names come from? How do brokers, managers and mailers operate in this kind of environment?

Let’s start with mailers and list owners: First and foremost don’t change what you are doing.

By hoarding your names, you are contributing to the lack of new names on the market. Exchange them, rent them and circulate them! Keep testing and keep prospecting. The easiest way to kill a list (and a house file) is by cutting back. Stimulate some new blood into that file. Acquire new donors, new buyers, or new subscribers by thinking outside of the box. Offer, where available, blow-ins, package insert programs, statement stuffers…anything to help touch the customer and keep them yours. Send your donors a newsletter, inform them of what you are doing with their donation, and keep them interested. Send your buyers sale offers, send special offers—e-mail and social networks are a great way to do this. Gather those names! Ask for e-mail address, ask for postal address, and be sure to ask for permission to sell them. Give your manager something to work with.

Make the data on your list richer and better wherever possible

You can enhance a file with attributes like age and income, religion and ethnicity. You can add selectivity like recency, monetary and even source. You can make available your formers and expires, hotlines, single buyers/donors, multi donors/buyers, renewals, and more. These are so many great ways to boost some life into your list. A lot depends on the current size of your file, but don’t be afraid to explore new avenues. Give your list manager something to sell on your list and the broker something to have their mailers retest.

Step up customer service.

Go the extra mile. Provide insight into your lists. Go beyond the datacard with information that may help sell a list better to both the broker and in return their mailer. When answering be prompt, be courteous and be accurate. Offer up new segments to test and retest. Timeliness and accuracy are major players in earning the trust of both brokers and mailers. It could be part of the rationale for choosing one list (manager) over another if the lists are similar and yield similar results.

Make your sales more personal.

Yes, e-mail is a wonderful thing. It’s convenient and you can touch multiple people with just one blast—but be careful. E-mails can sometimes lack that personalization if you are not careful. Be mindful of your tone in the e-mail. Talk with your prospect, not at them. Better yet, pick up the phone and make a follow up call to the e-mail, make a personal visit, schedule a meeting at a conference. Cross-sell and upsell. Provide pertinent rational, usage and counts. Make every contact you have with your customer count—make it worth their time and investment in your call.

Promote and advertise your lists.

Here’s where e-mailing your customers comes in; e-mail is a great, cost-effective and time-effective way to initiate a sales transaction. Be sure to follow up on your blasts/advertising efforts. Be sure you are listed in NextMark, Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS), MIN and any other research tool out there. Send industry publications like Direct press releases about new lists, selects and updates.

Make sure the data on your Web site is current and correct.

An active file that was last updated two years ago does not scream active. Keep your Web site current with SRDS and NextMark. Don’t make a prospective user of your list guess which resource is correct.

Don’t feel compelled to discount.

Don’t cheapen your list. Everyone wants a good deal to make a list more affordable, so when asked, work together and see what works for both the mailer and the list owner. Deals can be one-time only and can be finetuned and re-negotiated. Make them have value for everyone. Don’t give things away. This is direct marketing, not flea marketing.

Remember your existing relationships.

It’s okay to be creative and put forth new ideas and try to drum up new business, but don’t go after new deals at the expense of your existing relationships. You need to work harder in these tough times to secure their business. Your new business should supplement your existing business—not replace it!

The bottom line? Keep doing what you’re doing. Just do it better and smarter. Go that extra mile, provide that extra customer service. Indeed because of the recession, times are indeed tough. Let’s work thru the recession and not make it an obsession.

Bob Stein is vice president of list management, Trinity Direct. Deana Snyder is director of list management, Estee Marketing Group Inc.