"Dirty data" can cost you a lot of money!
Cleaning databases saves time, improves profits, too
By Jan May, President, Volkart May & Associates, Inc.
Unfortunately, without regular maintenance (that too often is not done) up to half of business data becomes inaccurate in only 12 months! Some basic statistics illustrate that this statistic is true:
- 3,500 companies change names, addresses or phone numbers - every day;
- 2,120 companies close or merge - every day;
- Nearly 2,550 new businesses are formed in the United States - every day; and
- More than 50 percent of people in middle and upper management positions - the decision makers and influencers in business - change jobs every year.
- The average business database deteriorates at an average rate of one percent per week!
These are statistics based upon what happened in a typical year and not just when the economy is down. In the current situation, those numbers are undoubtedly much higher.
Cost of dirty data
So what? First of all, if you mail, phone or send sales people out to call on prospects and customers, you are probably wasting a lot of money, not to mention valuable time. Customers of six months ago may no longer be your customers - or may not even be in business! Other customers or prospects may have spawned multiple new enterprises that could use your products or services but you don't even know they exist. And your counterpart at a competing business might now be the decision maker at a prospective customer company (or vice versa)!
That's why databases, like our offices and our homes, constantly need a good cleaning - and not just in spring!
Payoff from cleaning databases
Cleaning your database can pay off handsomely. Here are two award winning actual examples:
One of the world's leading software companies gave us their database of 570,000 potential customers. Through our updating process, involving both data cleansing and telephone calling, we found that a full 60 percent of those records were inaccurate, containing outdated information, duplications and overlap.
By having us identify those problems and eliminate those records, the client was able to save more than $1,000,000 in the first year on mailing costs alone.
One of the world's leading computer products companies gave us a database to not only verify decision makers, but also to generate qualified leads for sales follow-up. We also followed up on the lead to measure results through "Did you buy?" calls. Within one quarter, we had exceeded the client's sales goal by 37 percent and generated nearly $6,000 in actual and projected revenues - per lead!
Invest in pre-sales services
A systematic pre-sales cleanup effort can make a dramatic contribution to the success of an integrated marketing and sales program and result in better than expected results and, at the same time, reduce costs. Developing and implementing a systematic program for our client made it possible to more economically target the right audience because database accuracy was assured and qualified prospects could be identified more efficiently - with the results effectively tracked and measured.
The value of a planned, systematic integrated effort is reflected in the fact that, in a time when many other budgets were slashed in our client's company due to the depressed economy, the program we designed and implemented for them has continued.
Jan May is the co-founder and president of Volkart May & Associates, a Minneapolis-based telebusiness services agency serving major business-to-business marketing clients both nationally and internationally. Her e-mail address is jmay@volkartmay.com.
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