Every advisory floor in India has bought a bad batch at least once: numbers that ring out, wrong names, a “premium” file that turns out to be the same list the floor across the road dialled last week. The problem is rarely the price. It is that the buyer didn’t ask the six questions that separate a supplier from a dump. Here they are, with the answers you should expect.
1. What exactly do you replace — and what don’t you?
A supplier who says “we replace everything” is telling you they replace nothing, because nobody can replace a number that simply doesn’t pick up. The honest answer has two halves: replaced — invalid numbers, switched-off numbers and wrong numbers, within a stated window (ours is 15 working days from delivery, replacements out within 1–2 working days); not replaced — numbers that don’t pick up, which your team re-dials. If a supplier won’t put the second half in writing, expect an argument later.
2. Is the data cut by segment, or is it “stock market traders”?
The single biggest reason a floor’s follow-up ratio disappoints is a mismatch between the pitch and the person. An options package dialled to cash-market investors underperforms even with perfect numbers. Ask whether the supplier can cut intraday traders from F&O and option traders from share market investors from MCX traders — and whether they can explain how the segment is defined. “Stock market traders” as a single bucket is a warning sign.
3. Was the batch dialled before it was sold?
This is the question almost nobody asks and almost no supplier can answer. A batch that has been dialled by the supplier’s own floor and graded on how it responded is a known quantity: you are buying a follow-up ratio, not a promise. A batch that has never been dialled is a lottery. Ask for the grade, ask what it means, and ask which grade matches the ratio your floor already achieves — a good supplier will steer you away from the most expensive grade if a cheaper one fits.
4. Where does the data come from?
For a SEBI-registered research analyst or investment adviser this is a compliance question, not a curiosity. The acceptable answers are specific: broker tie-ups, the supplier’s own advertising campaigns, search traffic to their own sites, opt-in channels. The unacceptable answer is a shrug. Either way, scrub against DND before dialling — a serious supplier will tell you to, unprompted.
5. Which formats, and how fast?
Three formats cover almost every floor: number only for high-volume dialling; name + number + state so the opening line lands and the caller’s language matches; name + number + email for teams that follow up on WhatsApp or email. Delivery should be measured in hours after payment, not days. Ours is 1–2 hours, in Excel or CSV.
6. Will the same file be sold to my competitor next week?
Ask it plainly. Every order should be a fresh cut for you. If the supplier hesitates, you have your answer — and you also have the explanation for why “everyone has already called these people” comes up on your floor.
What a good first order looks like
Not a large one. Take one state and one segment that match your package and your callers’ languages, dial it properly for a week, and measure the follow-up ratio on your own floor. Then widen — more states, a second segment, a higher grade if the ticket size justifies it. A supplier who pushes you to start big is optimising for their invoice, not your ratio. If you want to walk through this for your own floor, the advisory firms page and the brokers and sub-brokers page set out how we answer each of the six questions, and the traders database catalogue lists every segment and state we supply.