By Ann Guyer, President/CEO of PCS List & Information Technologies

Remember the “list broker” on the old TV series LA Law? He (actor Dann Florek as direct mail guru David Meyer) was depicted as boring and dull. NOTHING is further from the truth when it comes to REAL list brokers. Our work is INTERESTING, challenging and precise. We work very, very hard to make our clients successful.

By understanding how a list agency works, you can gain a hand-in-hand relationship with your broker. Here is what goes on behind the scenes.

Knowing what questions to ask and what the broker needs to know is the first key.

Here are a few tips and answers to good basic questions:

Where do lists come from?
Lists can be from directories, certifications, attendees, subscribers, surveys, members of associations, internet listings. They can be responders or can be a match to a particular profile drawn from multiple sources.

How does a broker make money?
A broker receives a standard commission from the list owner, compiler or manager off of the retail base price of the list you purchase. Your research is free.

Why use a broker?
A broker has access to an abundance of research mechanisms that allows them to survey the entire world of available lists, using online word searches, directories and systems that are unique and expensive for most mailers to obtain, allowing the broker to compare many lists and sources on behalf of their client. There are thousands of list sources.

How does a broker understand how to target a particular market?
We work with so many different industries, professional disciplines and product offerings, it is necessary to understand how to find your distinct prospect. Brokers look at a market from a point of view of “what does the person read, purchase or is affiliated with?” This is the starting point where you can help your broker do her best research.

What do you gain by price comparison from one broker to another?
Although you may find small variables in pricing protocols, the knowledge of your broker and how a list is fulfilled may differ substantially from one broker to another. For example, by understanding professions well, your broker may be able to find more potential prospects in the very same list for your offer. Is that worth paying for? I would say so.

How can you save money using a broker if the retail price is the same?
By working with a single broker who can pull together multiple recommendations, you can assure that there isn’t overlap between lists either with selective ordering or by merging lists together and dropping the duplicates. They can advocate for you regarding competitive issues or negotiate multi-use for frequently rented lists. By looking at the whole marketing plan an experienced broker can see ways to both save excess expense and gain greater response in your efforts.

Why be very open about your offer?
What is an offer? It is the product or service you are trying to sell, drive attendance to or attract members for. The more specific you are in defining your offer the better job your broker can do with list profile matching and avoiding competitive issues up front.

Why is there usually a minimum number of names?
To produce, maintain and quality control a list order requires technical expertise, detailed record keeping and rigorous quality control. About 5,000 names represents that break even point.

What is meant by one-time-use and why can’t you just take the list and use it over again?
One-time-use means use of the list is limited to one mailing for the approved offer. The list is seeded with decoy names to identify misuse. Misuse can include reuse without authorization or use for an offer that has not been preapproved. Strict penalties can apply and the list owner will be unlikely rent to you again. Fresh names and clean addresses are worth the cost of the list.

How fast can you get a list?
Although a list broker can RUSH your list order within a few hours, there are several things you don’t get by doing that. Research takes time. Comparison shopping to ascertain the best lists with the largest number of qualified prospects is desirable as well as thinking through details such as selection criteria, expansion of geographical limits, title addressing, key coding, NCOA, merge/purge against house names and many other variables that serve to elevate your response. In addition, a second or third QC ritual helps eliminate any errors or oversights. Your broker prefers not to RUSH your important list order.

How much time ideally should you give a list broker for a postal list?
In a best case scenario, your broker would like a at least a day to research comparative lists to present to you, a second day to confirm pricing and quantities for your choices and a third day to process the details accurately and fulfill your order into the hands of your mail house. In other words, three to five days is ideal.

What about EMAIL?
There are lots of new EMAIL lists coming onto the market all the time. Your list broker has industry-specific research tools to find the newest EMAIL lists.

Is EMAIL better than direct mail?
EMAIL has its advantages and so does postal mail. For one thing EMAIL response is immediate. On the other hand, postal mail leaves a visual reminder on the prospect’s desk that may serve as a reminder until he is ready to buy.