I don't think everyone is getting the owners name as you are, that's a really good strategy though but takes more time. I would try to automate this process with macro software, Imacros comes to mind. I am a pro with this software so I can help you code something up to do the scraping for you if you're interested.

To find more businesses just type into google "niche+town" and you can scrape them from Google places listings.

Best way is to get the business owners to come to you. Cold calling is not a fun game and takes lots of time, energy and effort and the ability to handle a lot of NO's. There are much better strategies to get them to come to you. Check out my latest thread for a step by step guide.

Unlimited Sales Leads & Mailing Lists | infofree.com -- with a discount code, you'll get up to 25,000 business or consumer names MONTHLY for just under $40 a month.

Data's pretty good (on the consumer side). I did check out the "New Business" hot list they offer; half of them are pre-existing businesses -- wasn't impressed with that one.

List resources:

Google.com

Yellowpages.com

InfoFree.com

Craigslist.org

In each scenario I would make sure that I have my marketing coillateral (ie slaes letter) geared for a specific vertical, with a heavy dollop of proof for that niche or one just adjacent to it (dog training vs. dog grooming).

I simply send out emails, and only contact those that have opened my email more than once (I use spypig.com).

I track my progress and I've discovered...the more conversions I have the more likely I am to make some money.

Its all a matter of effort, consistency, followup and commitment...oh yes...and confidence...which comes from knowing what you're offering and general practice.

The best list is the one you make for yourself.

I know it takes time but you pre-qualify through this process. Just make sure to do it during "No-Pay Time"--when your customers are NOT in...because you should be calling them during "Pay Time".

Manta is OK for a start and I'd stay away from buying the infoUSA lists and the like, because "everyone" is calling those people.

Local Business Journals publish a list of every new business started in your area. Lots of new businesses need websites and seo advice.

used to use referenceusa but our library dropped it and now it's atoz listings or something - the lists are old. I now just use scraper software.
Another thing to do is call businesses with ads in magazines or newspapers - at least you know they aren't afraid to spend money to promote their biz.

We use a scraper called Places Scout. It is an amazing piece of software. I have no affiliation other than I use it every day. It can pull a list, with owner name, of about 200 leads in 20 minutes.

I do all the research I can before I make a call to a local business owner. My best tool is Sales Genie. It's expensive, but worth every penny. I also own a local business (other than my internet consulting business) and I get a lot of calls from from solicitors asking to speak to the owner. If they don't at least know my name, they will never get me on the phone. I'm betting most local business owners feel the same way. When you research a company and can ask for a person by name, your chances to speak to them just went way up. Personally, I prefer to mail a letter 1st and see if I can get them to call me. Incoming calls are much better way to go.

Hmmm the irony of oit all.

Cold calling selling them on the power of the Internet for leads.......

do lead generation or buy call list

My team generates quality leads every day using direct marketing methods (email marketing, cold calling, direct mail)

I'm not a hardcore cold caller yet. I'm planning on calling 100+ businesses a day qualifying leads for a web design service, but I've been preoccupied lately and haven't had my head in the game.

HOWEVER, when I do a cold calling, I don't work with a list. Because I'm just doing these off-the-cuff sessions hitting up 40-50 businesses, I simply dig up a phone book and flip to the yellow pages. I grab a pen and flip to a niche and start calling advertised businesses, crossing off ads as I go. I usually look them up first to see the status of their web prominence and to see if they have up to date websites. If they do not have a website or if their website is outdated, I call!

I've learned that they key is to move on FAST. As the greats of this forum say, find YOUR GUY. You're looking for a specific person who is in need of what you're selling. Move through the rest as quick as possible. You WILL find interested people.

Good luck!

Honestly, I can't imagine doing that "cold calling" thing!

Best of luck! ;o)

I hope you don't take this negatively but have you ever considered the fact that cold calling is like pushing a rock up a hill. Even if you get an appointment or get an opportunity to present most business owners have a very low opinion of cold callers. You could possibly be missing a ton of good prospects and burning through a good list by literally pissing off a prospect before you even get started. There are so many more professional ways to get a prospects attention and appointment.

Maybe I'm missing something?? Possibly you all can enlighten this old time marketer.

taking lists from goggle or other sites are less helpful coz many people calling them. making list by urself is better. it takes a lot of time but also help you a lot.

As you can see there are tons of ways to get a list. Normally our clients provide us with lists, however, when we need to pull some, we use List Giant. We've used everything else and they are the best quality, highest connection rate.

Yellowpages!

And my favourite - CheckaTrade

I've used scrapers before..like I've got one for Angie's list..that helps with finding numbers to cold call within certain geographic areas

You can purchase a list or generate one yourself. If you would outsource your cold calling campaign, ask the service provider. They have a list available.

You could use something like YellABot to scrape the YellowPages and generate a CSV of prospects in a particular niche and geographical area pretty quickly. There's another scraper that does Yelp, Bing Local and others - the name of which escapes me for the moment.

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