When times are tough we are forced to make use of what we already have.  After many events, lead forms, list exchanges and sales rolodex’s you have probably built a nice size database of prospects.  Before you get ready to launch your next program to your in-house database consider these things:

1. Marketing Sherpa has said that 2.1% of data goes bad every month. (This stat is about 2 years old, with so many people losing their jobs over the last couple of months I bet this number has gone up, but for this, we are going to use the 2.1) This means each year almost 25% of your contact data gets dirty.  Do you know which 25%?

   Contact records stay fresh about as long as a gallon of milk. Well maybe a little bit longer but you get the idea. Here’s some other interesting stats (also about 2 years old) According to Gartner, more than 30 million people out of the 138 million employed in the US will switch jobs in the next 12 months. In the same time, some 2.5 million businesses will move, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Again, I bet these numbers are up too.

2. Are you marketing to the entire DMU (decision making unit)?  Do you have your entire DMU in your database?

   B2B purchases are typically made by a group of people.  Each one with different concerns and specifications.  To accelerate sales cycles it pays to start the connections before your prospect moves into the sales funnel.  DMUs can include – end users, business managers, finance specialist, technology specialists, senior management, key influencers, procurement specialists, etc.

   Marketing Sherpa also says…For purchases of $25K or more -
   100 – 500 employees    6.8 people in the DMU making buying decisions
   501-1000 employees    13.5 people in the DMU making buying decisions
   0ver 1000 employees    21 people in DMU making buying decisions

3. If you are trying to upsell or cross sell to your existing customer database, do you have the right buyers and their contact information?

   If you are selling a platform or have solutions that affect multiple groups within a company, there’s a chance you don’t have the right buyers for your new product or solution.  Here’s an example:  You sell a CRM platform and have recently added accounting and marketing modules.  Marketing to the sales leader that bought the CRM piece probably isn’t your target audience for the new modules and won’t get you very far.  Their needs are already met. And while they may be involved in the additional purchases they probably are not the ultimate buying decision maker for your upsell or cross sell.

4. Do you have all of the relevant contact information needed to executive your marketing programs?

   Example – You are planning a breakfast city tour and want to invite people in each region via email and also with a direct mail piece.  Do you have everyone’s correct physical address for the actual events and the direct mail?  Do you also have correct email addresses for the series of emails you plan to send reminding people about the event?  Missing just once piece can hinder your results.

5. Have you considered international privacy and SPAM laws?

   While we’re all very familiar with our US CAN-SPAM laws, have you researched the other countries you are marketing to?  Each countries laws are different, like for example Germany requires a double opt-in for email marketing.

Am I missing anything here?  Remember the grass isn’t always greener with the unknowns.  Work what you have, at some point you thought these people were worthy of holding on to.