Sales intelligence bot unleashed

Montreal-based Netvention has found a way to harvest sales leads directly from corporate Web sites. The company recently launched the Netvention Prospector, a search engine that is designed to ‘convert the Web into an easily searchable database of business sales leads.’ It allows marketers to extract and compile targeted and highly accurate business lists by automatically harvesting corporate data available on Web sites.

Companies selling to businesses can use any combination of market- or product-related keywords to feed the Netvention Prospector, which, in return, assembles business lists directly from the Web. Prospector offers three different types of Web-compiled sales leads: corporate profiles (basic business info), contact profiles (key managers info) and eBusiness profiles (featuring Web site characteristics). Pricing for targeted lists compiled using this technology ranges from $200 to $350 per 1,000 records.

Interact Direct and Zairmail team up

In an effort to provide businesses with faster, easier and less expensive direct mail service for Canada, London, Ont.-based Interact Direct is partnering with Zairmail, a U.S.-based Internet-driven direct mail company. Zairmail Express Direct service, available now in Canada, is designed to allow users to quickly launch direct mail programs right from their desktop PC for delivery in one to two business days. Users go to the Zairmail Web site and upload their mail piece and mailing list. Zairmail electronically routes the files to a partner, where the direct mail is printed, addressed and mailed to any point in North America.

Ad agency creates customizing Web tool

Austin, Texas-based Tocquigny Advertising, Interactive + Marketing recently unveiled Marcom Architect, an interactive Web resource that gives marketing professionals the power to manage and customize print and online marketing materials, promotional merchandise and product collateral.

It’s designed to help large enterprises, franchises and reseller-based businesses deliver specific quantities of materials to specific market segments with a 72-hour turnaround.

According to the company, customers, like Dell’s Higher Education division, can give partners secured access to the resource Web site created with Marcom Architect to develop an e-mail marketing campaign, a direct mailer, a poster or order a pre-existing brochure for a specific product that is working in their region or market. In Dell’s case, university campus computing centers can access the resource site to customize marketing materials with campus-specific information.