There are many different sources available for finding contact information on the internet. Most likely, you are familiar with the traditional providers of marketing contact data such as Hoover’s and Dun & Bradstreet. However, the data they provide may not help you meet your objectives for a variety of reasons:

• They might provide only the headquarters location address, but the people you need to contact may work in other facilities.

• They might not provide a person’s direct-dial phone number (or these days a mobile phone number which is often the primary), only the main switchboard number where gatekeepers can screen you out.

• These sources also lack explicit and complete job titles.

• Most importantly, these data providers may not provide complete contact information including email addresses.

Today, CardBrowser is changing how companies prospect, generate leads, recruit new employees, and build their channel partner programs. CardBrowser’s contact information is based upon four unique differences:

1. Data Collection Methodology. The traditional data providers hire telephone agents who call businesses and verify data once or twice a year. Since these operators do not have sales related backgrounds, they talk to the first person they reach (usually the switchboard operator). Conversely, CardBrowser attends hundreds of trade shows and collects the business cards directly from c-level executives, sales, marketing, and the technical people in attendance.

2. High Technology Industry Focus. The traditional data providers and web vendors cast a wide net across all industries and sub-markets. As a result, users of these services are often left wanting more contacts and better titles in their niche markets. CardBrowser is focused on computer software and hardware, information technology (IT), Internet/digital media, and telecommunications. As a result, Software, IT, SaaS, Cloud Computing, Telecom, Outsourcing, and New Media companies use CardBrowser to recruit the top sales, marketing, and technical talent - to find channel and OEM partners, to find international contacts, and to find key contacts in vertical markets and the federal / government sector.

3. Contact Completeness. There’s a big difference between knowing that someone is the “Vice President of North American Channel Sales” versus the more nebulous title “Vice President of Sales.” Business cards provide complete information including a person’s precise title (plus professional and technical credentials i.e. MD, PhD, CISSP, etc.), correct spelling of each person’s name, personal usage (whether someone goes by Charles or Chuck, for example), as well as the person’s mailing address, direct phone number, cell phone and, of course, the all important e-mail address.

4. Data Accuracy. Testing of CardBrowser’s contact information reveals a higher level of data accuracy than traditional marketing contact providers. Below are my independent e-mail testing results for 1,000 CEOs showing CardBrowser’s accuracy when compared to traditional data suppliers

Conclusion
CardBrowser offers a unique alternative to the traditional marketing contact data providers for technology companies who are recruiting channel partners (VARs, ISVs, and OEMs), search firms specializing in high technology, and as a lead generation tool for media companies, publishers, event producers, sales outsourcing companies, sales and technical training companies, industry associations.

About Steve W. Martin
Steve W. Martin is the author of the critically acclaimed “Heavy Hitter” series of books about enterprise sales strategies for senior salespeople. Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-Level Suite and Persuade Company Leaders to Buy (2009) is the first book to truly explain what to say and do in meetings with C-Level executives. The book is based upon extensive interviews with over 500 C-level executives. Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom: Proven Sales Warfare Strategies, Secrets of Persuasion, and Common-Sense Tips for Success (2006) is considered mandatory reading by Selling Power Magazine and Customer Relationship Magazine. Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy (2004)is recommended reading by the Harvard Business School and has been featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

Steve is also the author of The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team (2005). Based upon the six years he worked at Informix, the book is a Silicon Valley sales, marketing, and executive leadership case study. It chronicles the meteoric rise of Informix Software, how it became a technology giant, and the scandal that ultimately led to its spectacular fall.

A highly sought-after sales trainer and keynote speaker, Steve is both entertaining and enlightening. He has had the privilege of helping more than 75,000 salespeople become top revenue producers at companies including IBM, NEC, McAfee, Akamai, BEA Systems, Acxiom, Convergys, DHL, Standard Register, and Allstate Insurance.

Steve is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Sales and Marketing Management, and the Software Sales Journal. His “Heavy Hitter Sales Blog” is the top-ranked business-to-business sales blog and one of the most popular sales blogs according to Alltop.com and Blogs.com.

Today, Steve is a lifetime student of the human nature of customer behavior. When not working with his clients, he teaches sales strategy at the University of California Berkeley, Haas Business School MBA Program and at the University of Southern California Marshall Business School MBA Program (respectively ranked 5th & 6th in the nation by US News and Report).

Please visit www.heavyhitterwisdom.com for more information.