Survey Sheds Light on Vendors' B-to-B Data and Business Practices

RECOMMENDATIONS

Analysis of these results suggests that business marketers should exercise caution when ordering compiled data online.

Here are some guidelines:

• Given the wide variances in data quantity and quality, it's essential that you investigate thoroughly the data sources and maintenance practices of the vendors you're considering.

• Don't take for granted that all subsidiaries of large compilers will have the same data. Salesgenie, OneSource and idEXEC are all units of InfoGroup, and Selectory and Zapdata are divisions of D&B. All reported dramatic differences.

• When you do place an order, be very specific about industry selections. Find out if the vendor uses SIC or some kind of conversion algorithm. Not that any method is wrong, but you should know exactly what you're getting.

• Keep an eye out for vendor specialization by industry. NetProspex, for example, appears to have particular depth in the business services category, but doesn't cover education at all.

• Conduct a comparative test before you buy. One way is to run an appending trial, sending each potential vendor a list of 5,000 of your house names and asking them to add data fields. Be sure you include 25 or so records on which you know the “truth,” to assess the accuracy of what comes back. Another method: Order a sample of names and verify their accuracy by telephone.

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RUTH P. STEVENS (ruth@ruthstevens.com) consults on customer acquisition and retention, and teaches marketing to graduate students at Columbia Business School.

BERNICE GROSSMAN (bgrossman@dmrsgroup.com) is president of DMRS Group, a New York-based database marketing consultancy.

Fig. 1. Company Counts by SIC

		Demandbase	idEXEC	Jigsaw	Lead411	NetProspex1	OneSource	Salesgenie2	Selectory	ZapData	ZoomInfo3
32	Stone, clay and glass products	27,721	2,153	4,620	N/A	1,657	15,297	26,591	28,274	36,352	385
56	Apparel and accessory stores	36,325	1,552	6,141	194	5,419	185,704	220,209	193,149	228,619	3,200
28	Chemical and allied products	113,484	3,306	8,550	371	4,545	16,358	23,789	30,296	39,618	4,300
64	Insurance agents, brokers and services	43,679	3,221	11,794	980	38,303	231,220	245,486 /	217,389 277,098	225,857	21,000
73	Business services	332,861	14,632	89,340	1,381	168,652	676,098	830,679	1,254,960	1,459,405	75,300
81	Legal services	71,908	1,769	25,639	5,290	38,669	196,000	343,409 /579,313	318,280	318,863	24,000
80	Health services	367,925	4,092	30,689	933	79,931	577,818	941,650 /1,672,599	872,000	875,370	38,500
82	Educational services	458,788	1,389	27,155	836	N/A — Does not cover	268,067	284,194	195,018	279,804	40,000 (Including educational institutions)
35	Machinery, except electrical	138,615	6,274	25,013	565	5,707	71,792	105,764	90,343	109,286	10,900 (For-profit educational firms only)
48	Communications	80,486	3,191	16,755	84	21,584	101,357	116,155	112,831	136,281	14,300
	Do you code firms with NAICS?	No	Yes	Yes	No		Yes	Yes	Yes		No
1NetProspex does not use SIC codes. Counts are from their equivalent categories. 2For certain industries, multiple businesses may exist at a single site. In those cases, Salesgenie reported two figures — the number of unique firmsper address and the total count of all firms at all addresses. 3Counts are approximate. ZoomInfo uses a keyword algorithm that maps closely to SIC codes, but offers much more flexibility than SIC codes alone. For example, you can find insurance companies (SIC 64), but also marine insurance, credit insurance, or property/casualty insurance.

Fig. 2. Contact Counts

	Demandbase	idEXEC	Jigsaw	Lead411	NetProspex	OneSource	Salesgenie	Selectory	Zapdata	ZoomInfo
USG	39	119	457	13	15	322	261	672	8	1,001
Limited Brands	398	89	1,162	9	99	822	853	2,167	85	184
Dow Chemical	926	121	1,266	11	190	188	97	378	38	1,253
Northwestern Mutual	2,149	135	2,488	1	389	163	242	314	32	1,133
PricewaterhouseCoopers	9,045	49	23,596	2	2,264	176	78	398	59	6,245
Morrison & Foerster	9	11	1,524	11	248	290	30	124	N/A	863
Hospital Corporation of America	6	336	1,817	1	0	2,758	759	4,206	33	11,255
Ohio State University	30	Not found in idEXEC database	6,966	0	N/A — Does not cover education	190	203	713	1	9,025
Microsoft	4,826	226	7,426	18	4,584	411	220	346	34	20,439
Level 3 Communications	175	73	713	13	110	136	83	393	21	422

Fig. 3. Complete Contacts

	Demandbase	idEXEC	Jigsaw	Lead411	NetProspex1	OneSource2	Salesgenie	Selectory	Zapdata	ZoomInfo
USG	0	30	457	10	15	0	134	672	8	357
Limited Brands	313	12	1,162	1	97	0	39	2,167	85	163
Dow Chemical	584	13	1,266	9	12	0	13	378	38	1,248
Northwestern Mutual	2,084	44	2,488	0	353	0	133	314	32	1,055
PricewaterhouseCoopers	8,439	4	23,596	0	439	0	23	398	59	797
Morrison & Foerster	5	7	1,524	11	243	0	21	124	N/A	848
Hospital Corporation of America	0	98	1,817	0	0	0	261	4,206	33	8,404
Ohio State University	20	N/A	6,966	0	N/A	0	168	713	1	1,309
Microsoft	4,492	20	7,426	11	714	0	27	346	34	3,066
Level 3 Communications	156	25	713	11	107	0	31	393	21	380
1NetProspex does not provide fax numbers, so these figures are technically incomplete by our definition. 2OneSource did not provide counts on complete contacts.

Fig. 4. Theresa Kushner's Contact Record

	First name	Last name	Title	Company	Address1	City	State	ZIP	Office phone	Fax	Email
Correct data	Theresa	Kushner	Director, Customer Intelligence	Cisco Systems	170 West Tasman Drive	San Jose	CA	95134-1706	408-526-8774	408-527-2806	thkushne@cisco.com
Participating vendor
Demandbase	Theresa	Kushner		Cisco Systems	170 West Tasman Drive	San Jose	CA	95134-1706
idEXEC	Theresa	Kushner		Cisco Systems	170 West Tasman Drive	San Jose	CA	95134-1706
Jigsaw	Theresa	Kushner	Director, Integrated Customer Intelligence	Cisco Systems	170 West Tasman Drive	San Jose	CA	95134-1700	408-526-8774		thkushne@cisco.com
Lead411
NetProspex	Theresa	Kushner	Director of Customer and Marketing Intelligence	Cisco Systems	170 West Tasman Drive	San Jose	CA	95134-1706	408-526-4000		tkushner@cisco.com
OneSource Salesgenie Selectory Zapdata
ZoomInfo	Theresa	Kushner	Director of Customer Intelligence	Cisco Systems