What is a lead list? A lead list is a list of potential, usually targeted, prospects that a salesperson could call on to sell her products and services to. Often referred to as a sales lead list, it normally contains a list of names, companies, positions, phone numbers, and email addresses which could be utilized in direct marketing campaigns, usually through cold calling or email marketing.

A lead list could be developed personally or bought. A personally developed lead list could be aquired simply by a business professional searching through a phone book or yellow pages directory to find potential prospects. Lead lists could also be purchased by professional lead companies such as D&B and InfoUSA, or even online through websites such as Jigsaw.com.

Purchasing lead lists removes the time-consuming aspects of searching for propects on your own. The drawback is that good lists will often cost a few hundred dollars and they may not be 100% accurate. People move, businesses shut down, extensions change, people change jobs, so it is almost impossible to have a completely accurate list.

Purchased lists to have the advantage of being highly targeted and customizable. For example, with InfoUSA, you can customize your own lead list to purchase only contacts that fall into certain categories chosen by you. Categories could include businesses in a specified georgraphical area, businesses in a specified yearly revenue bracket, businesses with a specified number of employees, businesses within a specified industry, and businesses that have been around for a specified time period. You could also specify which contacts within a business you want, like the CEO, VP of marketing, or the procurement manager.

Prospecting via marketing from a lead list has a low success rate as it is a form of interruption marketing no matter how you end up contacting the propsects. But it does not cost a lot, other than the time-consuming factor, and that is the main benefit of using lead lists for your direct marketing campaign.