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TSL launches sales list leader product
Sunday, October 26, 2008 By Dick O’Brien
Carlow-based TSL has released a product designed to provide small and medium-sized technology companies with sales leads in what it says is a new business model.

Michael Kelly, managing director of TSL, said that traditionally firms either had to buy lists of unqualified leads unseen or opt for a bespoke lead generation service. TSL’s new service, based at www. newitprojects.com, allows companies to browse and select detailed listings of leads in defined areas before buying.

The company says it now has over €100 million of sales leads listed on the site. Individual leads can be purchased for €200.

Kelly said that the idea for the service came from reading Chris Anderson’s book, The Long Tail, which has proven incredibly popular in the US since its publication in 2004 for its description of how online businesses can thrive by selling a hugely diverse range of products in small niches. ‘‘Our business is just the same,’’ Kelly said.

‘‘There is a microcosm of sales opportunities and leads may only be good for one or two particular companies.” Kelly likened TSL’s new service to Apple’s iTunes online music store.

While buying lists might compare to buying a wide range of music before listening to it, the iTunes business model allowed you to narrow down your search by a broad range of criteria.

While the new service is primarily pitched at smaller market players, TSL’s main line of business continues to be in its original offering, which is developing bespoke sales leads for bigger technology firms.

Kelly believes that the two products could be complementary to each other, with larger firms using the new service increase the number of leads they have on top of those generated from bespoke campaigns, or simply using it as a testing ground before moving on to the full service.

Founded by Kelly and fellow director David English in 1999, TSL is backed by BES investors and Enterprise Ireland.

The company employs 70 people, 40 of whom are based in its US office in Boston, which has been up and running since 2000.

Kelly said that group turnover during its 2007 financial year ran to around €3 million and he was expecting to achieve a similar figure this year.

According to its most recently filed abridged accounts for its Irish operation, TSL booked a €20,000 loss in the year ending March 31 2007. It had ac cumulated losses €286,000.

However, Kelly said that on a group basis, the company had been profitable in all but one year since establishment.

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