Buying Business Owner Data

So you are looking to buy business owner data for your marketing campaigns…. where do you start?

Where is the best place to find quality data without breaking the bank?

Once I buy the data.. what do I do next?

These are all great questions I hear from business brokers all the time. Buying data, if done right, can be very powerful for your business. It can lead to many more deals and a lot more money in your pocket. Most of the time, I see brokers miss at least one crucial step in the process to leverage data to its full extent.

If you’re looking to expand your lead pipeline, it’s worth choosing lead generation services for business brokers alongside buying data to diversify your strategy.

Let’s first start with step one.. where to find the best business owner data.

Where Should I Buy the Data From?

3 Common Misconceptions:

There are some common misconceptions around buying business data that I would like to dispel for you first.

#1. The more expensive the data, the higher quality it is

This has been proven false time and time again. Through my quest to finding the best data to use for my marketing campaigns, I have tried all of the top business data providers. When I paid $0.01 per contact vs $0.50 per contact, did I see a substantial difference is deliverability or response rate from that business… NO. Do not be tricked by the fancy platforms saying that they have the highest quality of data. It’s all the same. They are all pulling from the same data sources and all you are doing is paying for the fancy bells and whistles they have on the platform that you will never need.

#2. Our data is verified and clean.

If a business data provider tells you that their data is verified and clean, do not take their word for it. Over the years, my company, ClientsIO, has purchased over 50 Million business owner contacts from a variety of sources so that we could get leads for business brokers. I have tried all of the top data providers. I even paid $8,000 for ZoomInfo because I though their data was going to guarantee that I was pumping leads for my clients. At the end of the day, when I put the each data source through a cleaning tool, every list contained bad and invalid contacts. Don’t pay more for clean and verified data.. it will always need to be cleaned.

#3. ZoomInfo is the best place to buy data.

I touched on it briefly in the last one but I strongly suggest against buying data from ZoomInfo or other expensive and fancy data platforms. The data is essentially the same as the cheaper options and all that you are paying the extra money for is the fancy tools and business update information that will not make an impact in your business.

Recommended Platforms to Buy Business Data:

  • DataZapp: What I like about DataZapp is that it has a large variety of data points. Whether you are looking for business owner data, homeowner data or other types, DataZapp has it. They are also one of the cheapest sources to buy data. I strongly recommend checking them out for your data needs.
  • Apollo: Apollo has been a great option to purchase data from for a while now. Their pricing options are more expensive than DataZapp but they do have some nice features within their platform that can help you with the outreach to the contacts. I have been using Apollo since 2020 and it’s always been a reliable source for me.
  • Data Axle: Now, I have never actually bought data from DataAxle but they very good customer service and can do a good job pulling the best list for your needs. Their data is more expensive than these other two options so i usually stay away but they are great to answer any questions you have.

For managing your leads effectively after acquiring data, consider checking out the Best CRM For Business Brokers to streamline your workflow.

How Do I Clean My Data?

I cannot stress how important it is to clean your list before sending an email blast to them. Most cleaning software’s will remove 25% up to 60% of your data because of invalid or unverified contacts on your list. Every purchased list is filled with bad information, regardless where you buy it from. When using email sending platforms, these platforms will closely check your email bounce rate. Generally if it’s over 5-10%, they will shut your campaign down and they may ban you from their platform. This is why it’s essential to remove all this before sending out the campaigns.

So… what are the best data cleaning platforms to use?

  • MillionVerifier: I have been using Millionverifier for quite some time. it’s the cheapest option out there and does quality work for me. I have had no issues. I strongly recommend checking out this platform.
  • NeverBounce: Another great option is NeverBounce. They allow you to pre-check your lists to see if it’s even worth cleaning. I find this to be an awesome feature before spending money cleaning the lists. This platform is a little more expensive per contact to clean and verify but it’s done a great job for me in the past.

My Overall Recommendations:

If I am going to spend money buying data, this is what I would do. I would buy data from DataZapp because I can get more data for less money. Then I would put it through MillionVerifier before using it for my campaigns. There are a lot of different business data providers and list cleaners but they all are essentially the same thing. My theory is that if I have to clean a list regardless of how high-quality it is, I may as well try to save money and use more inexpensive options.