Move over Mary Portas…

Move over Mary Portas…

Mary Portas does shops — we do data lists. When it comes to data, we think it’s about time that someone started to put service and return first for their clients. To that end I am donning a ginger wig and am blogging about how you can get the service you deserve when acquiring data lists. These are just six of the common sales tricks that some of the less scrupulous data companies out there employ.

1.  End of month sale. Oh really?

All data sales people have monthly targets to meet and when the going gets tough, they will slash their prices without a second thought. So how does that make you feel when you have purchased their data two weeks before and been told, “No we never offer discounts — our data is too good”. It completely devalues their product.

How to avoid: Speak to a list or data broker who knows the system and only pays the market rate for data.

2. Quote valid for only seven days

Absolute hogwash. I guarantee that if you call back in two weeks and want to go ahead, they will let you. This approach doesn’t have your campaign’s ROI at heart, only the commission to fuel their Friday night session. What’s really interesting here is that Direct Marketing Association members MUST NOT employ this tactic otherwise they will be investigated.

How to avoid: Just ignore it. Plan and execute your campaigns to your own timescale.

3. “If you sign today...”

This is a pressure sale, pure and simple. If someone says this to you, ask yourselves, “Do they really want my campaign to succeed? Do they really care about my objectives?”

How to avoid: Thank the salesperson for showing you their true colours and walk away.

4. The volume discount

There is nothing inherently wrong with this principle and economies of scale are always useful. However, a data company should be encouraging you to test and work out your ROI before committing to buying large volumes. By offering a volume discount for a large purchase, they are just trying to hit their sales target. Let them hit their sales targets after they have proven that their data can help you.

How to avoid: Speak to a good independent broker, they will package together small data sets for you to test.

5. One million records for £395!

Would you buy a Rolex watch from a man in a pub for £50? Buying a massive list like this is a sure-fire way to get very poor quality data, be blacklisted by your ISP, get a TPS fine and damage your brand.

How to avoid: Common sense this one, if it’s too good to be true, it is. Buy from DMA members only and seek the council of a data broker.

6. What’s your budget?

This is a tricky one. Discussing budgets with a list broker is a worthwhile exercise and can enhance the data planning output. However, there are certain companies out there that will use this information for their own gain. How often have you told them your budget — say £1000  — then received back a quote for £995? There are many people who will supply data at your budget level to get the most revenue for their own sales rather than try to save you money.

How to avoid: Be wary of disclosing budget information unless you are using a trusty list broker.

Move over Queen of Shops, Mary Portas – John, King of data is here to clean up lists and data! That aside, I am just pleased to have hair again after all these years...

John Keating is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and director at Databroker.

Read more about buying data in our guide to marketing with your database

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