The US healthcare pharmaceuticals market is valued at several hundred billion dollars. It’s little wonder that it’s one of the top segments in the sights of a large number of b2b companies eyeing a slice of that pie. When it comes to building a database of healthcare leads and decision makers a custom list building approach is perhaps one of the best sources and well worth the time or money you invest in building it. Depending on the organization within which you need decision makers whether its IT, finance, accounting, compliance or administration, role based lists are a lot more reliable and accurate. Some of the larger company databases may not have the level or type of contacts needed and although ready lists can be purchased or rented, accuracy would depend on how recently they were built and unless these lists can be sampled. When the products or services are more niche and require very specific decision makers engaged in the sales process then aside from generating inbound leads and inquiries for the offering, building role based lists is ideal. For example if the decision maker is the person responsible for diagnostics technology in the lab or the person responsible for emergency response systems and software, it’s unlikely they can be found on most directories or ready lists.

To build a role based list, use a telephone based process of calling into to prospective accounts and asking for decision makers by role rather than asking for someone in a specific job title. For example, if the product being sold is a tissue imaging solution for diagnostics, navigating through the diagnostics lab and identifying the person responsible for imaging is a lot more productive than asking for the IT Director or having the name of  the CIO and asking inside sales to connect with him/her. The phone based process is time intensive and slower than buying a list of more general  higher level contacts but the value of having a database of accurate direct decision makers which sales and marketing can connect with quickly is well worth the effort and extremely valuable while going after the healthcare segment.

In a market like healthcare and pharmaceuticals where high quality marketing data isn’t always readily available off the shelf, try building your own. Starting with the right person may help you get that piece of the pie before someone else does.

When you are selling into mid-sized and large organizations, most likely you have multiple business contacts within your target account who drive, influence and take decisions. Depending on the industry vertical as well as the way your target accounts are organized, it is possible to have varied business contacts who take part in the decision making process. For example, if you are selling a web security product in the Education, Banking and Health care markets, you will find that the types and roles of contacts who drive the final decision in each of these verticals are varied. Understanding the web of contacts that drive and influence decisions for your product is critical for your sales and marketing success. Before you embark on expensive email, direct mail and telemarketing campaigns, the first order of business must be to acquire all business contacts at your target accounts who are expected to take part in the overall decision making process.

It is also critical to understand how every industry vertical may be different before defining who are your target contacts in each of the verticals. We recommend that you identify these by the roles and responsibilities they hold so that you get the right set of contacts to start with. Missing the mark on this critical foundational piece can lead to failure of all subsequent sales & marketing campaigns. Focus on understanding your decision makers and define them well for every vertical. Then simply build out a list of such role-specific decision makers and influencers to create your core CRM database of business contacts who you care about the most. Getting this right is crucial and its important to use the right team internally or outsource list building to the right vendors who gets it.

Fail on the core list and you will just see more failures in your sales & marketing campaigns. The list is at the heart of your sales machine, and its success or failure.