I have been remiss in writing about a great web-based marketing tool. Not because I didn't want to tell you about it, but because it took me a while to become comfortable with the concept. When I first heard about it, I found it a bit on the creepy side.
The tool is called Jigsaw, and is an online list compilation service with a difference. The difference is that the compilation process is based on trading and buying business cards. 
I used to work in the list compilation business. In those days we combed through phone directories to build lists of businesses and consumers (a practice that still goes on today). The problem is one of accuracy. A phone book is only a snap shot in time. As soon as it is printed it is already out of date, so anyone who rented one of our lists could count on a fair amount of bad data (we didn’t sell it that way of course).
As I thought about Jigsaw, I realized that it is nothing more than a list compilation service, only one that is much more accurate.
The basic concept is simple. It is designed to be a business card exchange system. If you give me your business card, I can log onto my jigsaw account and enter your information. If you are not already in the system, I get "points” for entering your data. If you are already in the system, but your data is incorrect, I also get extra points for correcting it (and the person who put in the inaccurate data loses credit). If I want to find a contact, I simply go to the Jigsaw CRM type interface, enter any sort of select parameters such as:
- Search for a specific person
- Search for a specific business
- Search for all people in a specific business in a specific area
When I find who I am looking for, I download the contact, and I am charged “points” for the contact.
It is easy to argue that when you give your business card to someone, you are not expecting it to get entered into a database. The reality of the world is that your name is being compiled all the time in many ways, this is just a new way of doing it. The benefit to the user of the product is that you are able to get very accurate information on key contacts within companies that you are looking to connect with. The data includes correct names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
To use Jigsaw however, you don’t have to be willing to surrender your data. The company allows you to purchase data also by buying points. What I have found great about the product is the accuracy. Of course accurate data also requires that it be used in a responsible manner, so my hope is that Jigsaw will continue to monitor how the product is used and reinforce responsible usage (ie. don’t download a list and then spam it).