Calling data for telecallers: what to buy and how to use it

What people mean by calling data

In a telecalling office, "calling data" means the spreadsheet of numbers the team dials each day. What decides your results is whose numbers they are. Calling data for telecallers comes in two very different kinds:

• Business numbers: shops, clinics, factories, agencies and firms, with the name of the business, the number it gives out for enquiries, and usually its city, address and trade. You reach people in their work role, about their work.
• Numbers of private individuals: sold as "loan leads", "salaried employees", "car owners" or "HNI data". This is what most cheap offers on WhatsApp groups contain.

This guide is about the first kind.

Why consumer calling data is a bad buy

• Nobody knows where it came from. Lists of individuals are usually copied from app sign-ups, loan forms or contest entries, and the people on them never agreed to hear from you. Personal data should be used for a clear purpose, and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is coming into force in phases, so take advice before you touch data like this.
• Many of the numbers are blocked for you. Individuals register on the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) to stop promotional calls, and a registered number is off limits however you got it.
• It puts your own lines at risk. People complain about unwanted calls through 1909 or their operator's app, and unregistered telemarketing can lead to the caller's numbers being disconnected.
• The same file is sold to everyone, so the people on it are tired of calls and hang up in seconds.

Business numbers work differently. A shop or a clinic publishes its number so that people can reach it about business. Not every call will be welcome, but a short, relevant call to a business about its own work is ordinary trade in India.

Building business calling data yourself

• Your own records first. Old enquiries, lapsed customers, unanswered quotes and visiting cards from trade fairs are the best numbers you have, because these people already know your name.
• Map and listing sites. Fine for checking one business, slow for building a sheet of thousands, and copying them in bulk breaks most sites' terms.
• Official look-ups. The GST portal's taxpayer search and the MCA company master data confirm that a business exists and where it is registered, one record at a time, with no mobile number.

Business calling data from Starleads

Our business directory holds 78,49,029 businesses of every kind across 36 states and union territories. 89% have a mobile number, 40% a contact person's name and 49% an email address. Mobiles are cleaned, de-duplicated and in +91 format, ready for a dialler. You can read 60 real rows and download a free Excel sample before you buy.

Most teams work one city at a time, and the directory is sold city by city (253 cities) and state by state (34 states). The biggest city files are these:

• Mumbai 6,81,153 contacts · 51% email · 77% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 5,80,917 contacts · 42% email · 91% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 4,26,906 contacts · 48% email · 97% mobile ₹499
• Chennai 3,58,318 contacts · 50% email · 80% mobile ₹499
• New Delhi 3,51,473 contacts · 55% email · 95% mobile ₹499
• Pune 2,95,344 contacts · 51% email · 89% mobile ₹499
• Ahmedabad 1,85,973 contacts · 56% email · 97% mobile ₹499
• Kolkata 1,77,230 contacts · 44% email · 76% mobile ₹499
• Jaipur 1,41,971 contacts · 44% email · 86% mobile ₹499
• Gurugram 97,539 contacts · 57% email · 96% mobile ₹499
• Coimbatore 94,133 contacts · 52% email · 87% mobile ₹499
• Noida 92,412 contacts · 51% email · 95% mobile ₹499

When the pitch needs the owner and nobody else, the Business Owners & Proprietors list has 3,27,377 contacts, nearly all with the owner's name and 98% with a mobile number.

• Business Owners & Proprietors 3,27,377 contacts · 2% email · 98% mobile ₹1,999

To put two trades and two cities in one sheet, for example chemists and clinics in neighbouring towns, use the list builder.

Who buys business calling data, and for what

• A billing software company in Ahmedabad whose telecallers book demos with wholesalers and retailers.
• A digital marketing agency in Kochi that filters the sheet for clinics and coaching centres with no website.
• A courier franchise in Ludhiana looking for hosiery units that send parcels every day.
• A CA practice in Nagpur offering GST return filing to traders.

In each case the call is about the business, and it goes to the person who decides for it.

Setting up a telecalling team on the data

1. Split the sheet by area and trade. Give each telecaller a few PIN codes and one or two trades, so they soon learn that trade's questions.
2. Remove DND numbers before promotional calls. Under TRAI's Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR), anyone can block promotional calls by calling or texting 1909 or through their operator's app or website. The preference sits on the number, so check business mobiles too. Our DND guide shows how.
3. Call from the right numbers. TRAI has given the 140 series to promotional calls and the 160 series to service and transactional calls. Ask your telecom provider how to register before you scale up.
4. Open with their business, not your product. For example: "Good morning, I'm Arjun from Sai Billing Software. We work with medical stores in Vadodara on stock and expiry tracking. Who looks after purchases at your store?"
5. Call when they can talk. Shops are freer in the late morning and mid-afternoon than in the evening rush; offices answer best between 11 am and 1 pm and between 3 pm and 5 pm. Note each market's weekly closing day.
6. Expect three questions: "Where did you get my number?" (answer honestly: from a business directory), "What does it cost?" and "Can you send it on WhatsApp?" Ask before you send anything there.
7. Log every outcome and strike out anyone who asks not to be called again. For the words, see our telecalling scripts in Hindi and English; for the daily routine, the 7-day calling plan.

Questions people ask

Is telemarketing data the same thing as calling data?

Mostly, yes. Telemarketing data is the older name used by call centres. Either way, ask whether the numbers belong to businesses or to individuals, and where they came from.

Why do so many numbers in cheap data fail to connect?

Because nobody cleaned them. Numbers are switched off or given to someone new, and the same number appears three times in different formats. Ask for real sample rows and the month the list was built, and use our checklist for choosing a data provider.

What if a business asks to be taken off the list?

Remove it at once and keep a "do not call" column so it never comes back. Anyone can also have their details removed from Starleads lists on our Remove my data page.