For many of you the toughest part of customer acquisition is obtaining current contact information. The number one question I get asked is:
“How can I get accurate email addresses and direct dial phone numbers or extensions for the prospects that I want to reach? Email, phone, title, that is what I need. Is there somewhere to get this information?”
The answer to this question provides one of the best examples of how Web 2.0 technology and services are changing the customer acquisition and sales processes forever. The simple, short answer is Jigsaw.com. I have been an active user for over a year now, and the chances of getting exactly what you 
are looking for are greater than 90% day in and day out. These guys have created a solution that has blown the competition out of the water giving you the ability to get to the right person in whatever method you choose, sometimes all three methods of email, phone and mail.
It is important to note that this is a source for BUSINESS contacts, not consumers. As of this post there are over ten million contacts in their system. The founders of this venture are Jim Fowler and Garth Moulton, two sharp guys that have destroyed the traditional business model for this market segment. They have turned the historical leaders into what Garth has called “dinosaurs”. It is absolutely true, and what is most amazing is, you can use the service for FREE! They have numerous services, packages and plans available that you can pay for, but you can actually jump in and get immediate results at no cost.
A recurring theme throughout my posts is the belief that when you select a tool or process to enhance your prospecting, dig in and learn the capabilities thoroughly. Tangible, long term results are maximized when you learn the 2nd and 3rd level capabilities of Jigsaw or any of the other tools that I will be sharing. By utilizing many of the tools within Jigsaw, here is what a typical day in my life looks like:
- When I fire up my PC every morning, the first thing that I review is a list of NEW prospects that have come in overnight to my email. I have carefully built several specific searches that I know from experience are ideal candidates for my products and services. These searches are broken down into criteria like title, geography, industry, # of employees, etc. I have five profiles built that go out overnight and find people that match my criteria.
- Then I must check these prospects against my companies current customer database to ensure that they are not being targeted by someone else within my company, eliminating those that are already in play with someone else.
- The remaining prospects are then imported into Salesforce.com (more on why Salesforce.com in future posts). This is done with one click of the mouse, due to the integration capabilities that I have set up in advance. An example of getting deeper into the service than just getting a name and phone number.
- Now I have my prospects identified for my FirstCalling activities beginning the next day. I have an absolute rule that I will never call someone in the list for that day on the same day that I obtained the information. The worst thing that you can do to the newly obtained prospect is get them on the phone or shoot off an email without doing some background research on the person and the company. I do my research the day that I receive the Jigsaw information, and launch my “campaign” the next day. You have fresh information, don’t blow it by being ill-prepared when you actually make contact.
The best thing I can say is that you WILL make contact, one way or another. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace? If you would like to check out Jigsaw with a free account click this link and let me know how it changes your sales results.