In JennyFine's post "Looking for small businesses in USA", you mentioned using a mailing list broker to find newly registered business. I was very intregied by this suggestion and I want to find out more information about list brokering. I have quite a few questions and anyone feel free to reply.
##How much does a list cost (average)?
##What kind of information can you get from list brokers? Can you get owner's names, type of business they do, size, annual sales???
##Are there local list brokers or should you use a national list broker?
I am not sure if getting lists is a good solution for my business, but I want to fully investigate it before I write off the idea. Has anyone else ever used a list broker? If so, how was your experience? Thanks in advance...

I have purchased business lists a few times in the past and in my experience they can cost anywhere from $.06 to $.16 per record depending on the type of list (selection criteria, etc.).

You can get all the items you're looking for and more. Things like employee size, contact info, etc are all available. Some items may cost more than others.

As far as local or national, I don't think it matters. You want to use a reseller or compiler and be sure to ask the source(s) of their data.

I purchased lists to do direct mailings and some limited telemarketing. It does work but in order to be cost effective you'll want to make sure you target the right companies.

A broker I used the last couple times was American Clearinghouse (ACH) http://www.americanclearinghouse.com. They were knowledgeable and worked with me to get what I wanted. They don't have much dealing with business lists on their site so if you want more info you would probably have to give them a call.

Hope this helps.

aah, this is very interesting.

I think many universities in the US must use these services -- my daughter gets mail from dozens of colleges all of the US without contacting at least 90% of them.

Everybody uses them.

Regarding local or national, I'd say it depends on your product/service and how you want to market it. You can often get a service that will not only provide you the list, but create, print, and mail for you too. Of course you'd want someone with a good track record, when doing this.