In looking for ways to assist the salesforce, a
“mailing file” database was discovered, and it was
thought to be applicable to this situation. Although the
exact database cannot be identified due to competitive
considerations, it is typical of today’s online databases
that are available from a variety of sources. For
example, an advertisement that recently ran in several
marketing publications featured the availability of a
B2B database having over 14 million entries. This list
of sales leads, which can be downloaded directly from
the advertiser’s web site or purchased on CD-ROM or
DVD, contains a variety of potentially useful
information: company name and address, corporate
linkage, number of employees, estimated sales volume,
phone and fax numbers, credit rating codes, SIC or
NAICS codes, and key decision makers by name and
title. Additionally, these sales leads can be selected by
geographic area, such as state, county, or Zip Code. A
decision was made to lease the database, acquire the
appropriate data from it, and try to use it as a guide to
guide the sales effort.