Renting commercial available lists will involve doing due diligence at one's local library. One can find a list of mailing list brokers and list managers through multiple sources or an SRDS directory, which are sources that are made publicly available.

Money spent in lead generation should be justified in paying a list broker for lead quality. To generate quality in leads, a plan of discipline and consistency must be considered. When list sources are found, list brokers will narrow any list size using selective processes.

Having selective criteria when generating a list of target prospects is one of the best ways to target prospects effectively.

List brokers using selective list generation ideas could be expressed in the following 2 examples.

1) Size of Business

If the business is considerable in size, the list broker for example, could get the names of the business owners instead of the business name. A business owner is more likely to respond to a mailing because that piece of mail won't be filtered through the big corporation's mailing systems.

2) Type of Family

This is a example of the list selection process transcending geographic boundaries - yet still narrowing a focus of interest. A marketer might match a family that has more cars, and three teenagers driving those cars, because it will increase the probability of having a automobile accident.

The likelihood the family would respond for auto insurance mailings or chiropractic offers is greater in this example because statistically, a teenager is more likely to get into a automobile accident. Not to mention 3 teenagers.

If there was a advertising budget of $100, the marketer would prefer to send Chiropractic, or personal injury mailings to these targeted families as opposed to running a standard newspaper ad.

List brokers have the ability to help any marketer find this data and thus focus the marketer's advertising mindset.

Using commercially available mailing lists is a legal way of stealing other businesses lists who have gathered, qualified and organized customer data in a specific manner. It is a guaranteed way of gaining a unique competitive advantage.