Using telemarketing lists is a great way to find phone leads so that you can increase the productivity, sales and the revenue of your business. You can use categorized lists to meet the specific criteria for the business that you're generating sales for to ensure that you get out information to those who will be most likely to want it.

You can also learn new ways of generating sales with software programs and business strategies. Here are some things to consider about making the most of telemarketing lists:

1. Find ways to still get telemarketing phone leads through listings despite do not call list exceptions.

2. Learn new ways to generate leads to benefit the revenue and productivity of your telemarketing business.

3. Buy a categorized telemarketing phone list to find sales based on specific criteria, such as household size and income.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use telemarketing lists to increase sales even with do not call lists

The ability to find and use targeted telemarketing lists will help increase potential sales for your business. You can select things from telemarketing directories like what kind of businesses you're interested in contacting to narrow your search. Also, you will need to know what you can do as telemarketer to be able to do business in spite of the National Do Not Call Registry.

I recommend: Read the article on Inc.com about how the national do not call list is affecting the tactics used by the telemarketing business. The Federal Trade Commission offers information about do not call provisions for telemarketers.

Use telemarketing list solutions and strategies to increase customer contact and sales

To ensure that your telemarketing business is successful, you're going to need to learn new ways to generate clients so that you can increase sales for your business. There are helpful software programs as well as sales techniques, such as building customer relationships by calling anyone who has bought products from you to tell them about new products and features or improvements. Also you can call potential customers and ask them if they use a particular product or service and then tell about the benefits of buying whatever products or services that you'll selling.

I recommend: Learn about the call center software from Total Call Management Solutions that can give you targeted information such as business telemarketing lists and other resources to increase your revenue. Marketing Profs offers information about how telemarketers can generate calls from contacts and lists for telemarketing.

Purchase targeted telemarketing lists to increase sales for your business

If you need to find telemarketing leads from certain demographics for your business, buying telemarketing lists is a great way to find the kinds of contacts you want. You can buy lists based on income and type of business or household so that focus on customers and clients who would most likely be interested in what you have to provide.

I recommend: Purchase telemarketing lists from Marc Information Services to generate sales. You can select lists that meet your business criteria, such as the number of people or children in the household. Read about how buying a telemarketing list makes good business sense at Articles.DirectoryM.com.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Using auto dialers is a great way to make numerous calls to increase the productivity of your telemarketing business.

Who you gonna call? Getting to the right customer quickly and cost effectively is often a matter of buying the right telemarketing lists. Telemarketing leads connect you to people who have expressed interest in a product similar to yours, bought a similar product in the past or simply fit a profile of your typical customer — new homeowner in town, just had a baby, or likely to buy a car.

Although generally created from public records, some telemarketing list brokers target specific consumers. The primary reason to use telemarketing lists, rather than or in additional to Internet or direct mail, is the immediacy of talking to a potential customer.

In this guide to telemarketing leads, you will learn how to:
1. Rent targeted telemarketing lists.
2. Choose telemarketing list brokers vs. live leads brokers.
3. Hire outbound telemarketing services instead of a renting telemarketing lists.
4. Avoid telemarketing list traps.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find the right telemarketing lists for your campaign

Telemarketing lists are more than phone book white pages. The right telemarketing lists for your goals must be finely tuned to your needs. Some telemarketing lists reach consumers, some aim to provide business-to-business contact at the right decision-making level executive.

I recommend: Some telemarketing list brokers of both types of telemarketing lists include Go Leads, Martin Worldwide, and Telemarketing.com.

Hiring telemarketing list brokers vs. live telemarketing leads

Telemarketing lists brokers can connect you to people who have shown interest in your product in the past, but the next step up is a live leads broker, which connects your sales people to web surfers who have asked for information on a product at that exact moment. Powerful stuff.

I recommend: Among the vendors in this fast-growing telemarketing lead market are Double Positive and Live Lead Network.

Speed things up with telemarketing services

Mounting a serious telemarketing campaign doesn't happen in a week. It takes people, equipment, experience and, of course, telemarketing lists. If your company is new to telemarketing lists or needs extra help with a specific campaign, hiring a telemarketing services provider can close the gap. They do it all, acting as your sales force or simply finding the telemarketing leads and then patching them through to your sales people.

I recommend: Get started faster with outbound telemarketing services from providers including Myriad Leads, Marketlink, and West.

Avoid common problems with telemarketing lists

A major problem with telemarketing list brokers occurs when the data on them is incorrectly vetted or just plain wrong. Another is when telemarketing leads' numbers are the U.S. government Do Not Call registry and end up on your telemarketing lists (stiff fines are the result).

I recommend: See the U.S. government's Do Not Call registry FAQ page for tips on avoiding opt-out numbers. The Direct Marketing Association has extensive guidelines on ethics, too, including for teleservices operations.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Test telemarketing lists by renting two lists with similar or identical qualities and then testing them. Choose the strongest and start over.
• •  Renting telemarketing lists does not a business make. You'll need a decent telemarketing lead script and seasoned telemarketing sales talent as well.
• •  Consumer backlash against telemarketing lists has grown. Be sure your salespeople understand the law on telemarketing leads and are good brand ambassadors.

The rules and regulations surrounding telemarketing directories have changed drastically in recent years, forcing small businesses that rely on buying telemarketing leads for most of their sales to rethink marketing plans completely. Cold calling a telemarketing list is not what it used to be, but telemarketing can still be effective if it is done in the right way.

Telemarketing must be done correctly to be effective. It is important to have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of telemarketing lists laws and regulations for the following reasons:

1. Avoid costly fines for the misuse of business telemarketing lists.

2. Get the most effective marketing results with targeted telemarketing lists.

3. Come up with creative marketing tactics that work within the limits of the telemarketing lists laws and regulations.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand the laws surrounding telemarketing lists

The federal government established a law forcing direct marketers to comply with the Do Not Call Registry for the purpose of giving consumers the power to limit telemarketing calls to their homes and businesses. The law gives telemarketers a small period of time to cease calling the number registered on the DNC list, and must remove the number from the company's telemarketing phone list upon request from the customer.

I recommend: Find free downloadable lessons at the Federal Trade Commission website on how to comply with the laws, updated provisions and more. Find the FCC regulations surrounding telemarketing lists at Junk Busters. The American Teleservices Association has released a Regulatory Guide summarizing all of the laws and breaking them down into categories.

Determine consequences for violation of telemarketing list laws

The punishment for violation of telemarketing list laws and regulations are serious and costly, and they could result in fines and charges that could be disastrous for a telemarketing business. Laws allow one free pass in the case of calling a number on the registry, but punishment is immediate for other violations like breaking the call curfews.

I recommend: Complaints can be filed online at businesses that violate the laws to the Federal Commerce Commission. Read through a press release from the Federal Trade Commission that includes the amounts of fines for violating the laws.

Look into do-not-call lists for telemarketing

There are laws and regulations established for consumers to limit the number of sales calls received by adding their name to a list prohibiting unsolicited calls. Violation of the laws by telemarketers results in a monetary or legal fine, and there are laws on both the state and federal levels. There is a fee for businesses to access do-not-call lists, but they are cheaper for small businesses who only call within a limited number of area codes.

I recommend: Subscribe as a telemarketing business to gain access to the National Do Not Call Registry online. Find state Do Not Call lists at America Inbound.

Telemarketing lists help you make the most of your call center or sales team by providing you with the phone numbers and names of people you can contact. However, telemarketing lists vary widely in quality. To get the leads and lists that can serve your business, you need to master some basic telemarketing lists key terms that can help you understand your marketing options.

Brushing up on telemarketing lists key terms can help you understand some of the basic issues you need to consider when seeking out direct marketing lists. Understanding the industry jargon can also help you learn the major services offered by companies offering telemarketing lists.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Telemarketing lists

Telemarketing lists are lists of numbers and names of contacts that a business can contact with promotions or telemarketing sales attempts. These lists are often sold or rented by list brokers.

I recommend: BuyerZone has a detailed explanation of what telemarketing lists are. The website offers tips on choosing the right list.

List management

List management involves having a professional list manager who can represent, market and monetize your telemarketing list so that your business can make more revenue from your list.

I recommend: L.I.S.T. Incorporated has a comprehensive definition of list management that explains how management of telemarketing lists is useful for businesses.

List broker

A list broker helps a company find telemarketing lists and other advertising lists.

I recommend: Open 366 has a detailed definition explaining what a list broker is and what role this professional plays for a business.

Do not call list

The 'do not call list' is an opt-in list that allows customers to declare themselves unwilling to receive unsolicited sales calls. Businesses who buy or rent telemarketing lists need to be careful not to call customers who are on the do not call list.

I recommend: WiseGEEK has a detailed explanation of the do not call list in the US and how it works.

List rental

List rental refers to the practice of buying a license to a telemarketing or direct marketing list for a specific period of time.

I recommend: ProspectList.com has a useful definition of what list rental means and why businesses might want to choose this option.

Compiled lists

There are two types of telemarketing or direct marketing lists: compiled lists and permission-based lists. Compiled lists are lists of numbers and names that are gathered from phone books and public records. The leads on these lists have not necessarily asked to be contacted for promotions. For this reason, compiled lists are often less expensive and less targeted.

I recommend: The Information Refinery has a comprehensive definition of what compiled lists are and how they work in comparison to permission-based lists.