In our 12th and final blog on Dave’s Dirty Dozen Data Disasters, we’re taking a look at company names and relationships which may have changed or completely fallen off a cliff, Wyle-E-Coyote style.
Companies will change their names. It happens. Big and small alike, rebranding and merging happens and name changes will be the end result. We all know who Westpac are, but that too was once called the Bank of New South Wales. A little-known fact is that, before it became the world’s most used search engine Google was founded in 1996 under the name “BackRub”! Can’t imagine why didn’t they stick with that…
Sometimes a re-brand happens with great fanfare. Other times, not as much. When your marketing database doesn’t keep up with the rapid rate of change in the corporate world, your marketing communications can be incorrectly addressed and your sales people might just be barking up the wrong tree.
A target company still getting communications under the original name, well after the re-brand or merger, is not a good look for you. Since you’re obviously not up to speed with developments in the industry, why would they be encouraged to do business with you?
Then again, some companies just go out of business. Blockbuster Video, Toys ‘R’ Us and Sumo Salad are just three that have gone by the way of the dodo (ironically enough, the internet company Dodo hasn’t yet become extinct). Hanging on to defunct companies within your database is going to increase your data carrying costs, add to your data processing overheads and generally overstate your marketing reach.
You may not be up to speed with the latest in corporate comings and goings, but one thing’s for sure: DAVE is. He checks his master database and flags any organisations that have gone out of business or have changed name. He can also flag any companies that are subsidiaries of other larger businesses that you may already be in contact with, helping you to direct your sales efforts to the right organisation.
DAVE’s got one eye on the road, his nose to the grindstone and his feet to the floor. He’s clearly an A-quality multitasker.
