Hi Lisa!
Checked out the website and love what you guys do. HireKeep uses Zapier currently for integrating various platforms and CRM's and I couldn't do without it.
From my experience, cold leads lists have failed time and time again so I am not a big proponent but I want to put something behind my opinion. My inbox currently has about 250 unprocessed emails and that sucks! Getting others that come out of nowhere as a solicitation because my email is public would actually piss me off. No one wants to see e-mail in their inbox from companies and even people whom they did not request.
Let's talk actual rewards, risks, challenges and solutions:
The biggest reward (if you want to call it that) is that you can blast tens of thousands of "potential clients" and get into their inbox. But their actions thereafter are completely out of your control and could lead to some seriously detrimental outcomes.
The biggest risk and detrimental outcome here is your domain being flagged (as people mark your emails as spam) and all emails then start being sent to the spam folder. More info on that here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243399. This would also mean your sales team and others could potentially not reach even intended prospects. Be very careful there. It has hurt many companies because your domain rank is crucial.
The biggest challenge with this type of approach is purpose. What is the purpose of 5-7 emails to a group of people who have been qualified on the basis of information that is probably outdated and/or people who are actually not expecting it? If i have not searched for it, I have not inquired about it, I have no interest in it, I have no desire for it. Maybe I am being one-sided - but hey - I get so much spam and bs in my inbox - I have a right to feel that way.
Here is the kicker though - there are other ways to nurture leads, rank them and funnel them down to your sales team.
My immediate recommendation is 2 fold - generate a lead funnel using SEO and SEM. I won't go too in-depth here - but feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and I would be happy to provide further insight should you want it.
My steps would be:
1. Identify the research process a potential client is embarking on when searching for a solution for a problem that you can solve. i.e. integrations between two platforms that don't generally talk to each other.
2. Use your marketing team to write content about different ways these integrations have or can help customers so that when someone is doing research they can see that you have authority on the topic and Bedrock Data can solve that problem. Case studies and examples help. Free tips and ways to use things together - even in a free way could drive people to the blog/website. CRUCIAL: Allow that reader/potential customer/researcher/CEO/Co-Founder to sign up for your mailing list - simple - Name/Email. That's where you create your own list of people. That is the list you want.
3. Use Jaxxy or another cheap/free tool to identify keywords that are popular and potentially research oriented for an ideal customer profile. How could they find you and what are they researching. My first search was almost idiotic when I was trying to integrate two events in a gmail calendar where one event ending creates a second event automatically. I typed in "google calendar automated events". Stuff like that.
Final thought: Don't buy lists. Use a strategy to create your own lead funnel AND THEN have marketing nurture those leads with valuable content, relevant webinars and show case studies.
Hope this helps!
Paul