Many companies believe that they need to build their business contact database on their own mainframe. Some have been successful, they have built a huge number of contacts in house. Many of the large corporations however, outsourced their business contact database. Large companies followed the trend and turned to outsourcing.
Why is that? Why not build it in-house? Here are the reasons why list building needs to be outsourced:
Needs a lot of work- Locating decision makers and building a highly targeted contact list requires a lot of work. In fact, more often than not building up lead lists takes up time than can otherwise be spent selling to contacts. Building a database such as this is often best outsourced.
Few companies have a system in place that is built to generate the list- Most of these companies understand the importance of knowing core priorities of the company. Marketing must sit in the dugout when these heavy hitters step up to the plate. Most marketers cannot get the priority attention that should be given in such functions as setting up a database. In-house staff seldom has the specialized tool and experience needed to do a business contact database. These tools are seldom available on in-house company system and employees.
Most of the companies have stable system that run for years without change- List building is dynamic. The list requires constant modification and updating, most of your employees will not understand having to devote a lot of hours of time on list updating for your business contact database. It will take much longer to get your database up and running, and can cost you much more to build it in-house.
Most successful marketers outsource the construction of their database because it is cheaper and faster, and the product is better. It would be possible to do it in house but the problem comes when you realize that no one in the company has ever done this before. It would take months or more, it is also quite expensive, and would certainly not perform as well as the list provided by reputable and experienced companies.
List building takes longer time, since there is a learning process associated with learning how to set it up. It takes time to study the appropriate and highly targeted list for your business. When the database is finished, it will not work as well as one built by some experienced companies that has already built dozens of them, and has a trained technical staff whose only work is building and maintaining databases.
The solution, of course, is to find an external experienced list provider to build your contact database. If you get the right one, they will build the list that can bring a wealth of experience to your table.
Once the database is successfully built and running, it can be used and transferred to your company and maintain it in house. You need to make sure however that in the crucial formative months of setting up the list you cannot afford to rely on a job done by an inexperienced in-house employees.
What you can do to make the most of your outsourced company is to develop a tight contract that puts you in control. Look for a company and you will be able to specify your needs on timetables and quality standards that you could never do with your in-house staff.
