Zudig Grand Master, is preparing his students for a year’s internship on planet Earth to learn about our ways. Today’s lesson is about international leadership. Xandi, a bright but rebellious leadership student challenges Zudig. Eavesdropping on conversation, we hear….

Xandi: Hmmm. So how do they celebrate winning?

Zudig: Oh, that half of amphitheatre with same colors as man who’s just put leather globoid into net, jump up and down, take off their top, jump on their heads, and wave arms about, make thrusting movements and then sit back down.

Xandi. What, just like those players in red and white have done?

Zudig. That’s right Xandi. They’re from Zod.

Xandi. So why do they do that Zudig?

Zudig. Because leader of Zod team has successfully inspired them to score a win over Deng, players in blue.

Xandi: Ah! I see. So captain of Zod team is that man over there, sitting down, not even playing – he’s inspiration of it all?

Zudig:That’s right.

Xandi: But he’s not even from Zod – he has a Deng name! Why he is inspiring his players to play against Dengs?

Zudig: Because that crowd over there with their faces painted same color as team from Zod have chosen him, and players are happy to be led by such a leader.

Xandi: But players are not even from Zod. Some are from Zupit, two are from Engis, three are from Bidu and rest are from Midon!

Zudig: Yep. He has chosen his international team well, all experienced players who know tactics of other side. For that, he has rewarded them well, has inspired them to achieve great things, and knows they will deliver great results.

Rather than focus on one-shot deals, savvy marketers realize value of a good list, and seek ways to expand and derive more value from theirs.

What kind of lists am I talking about? On Internet, an opt-in list of customers, or others who've agreed to receive regular communications from you. Or it may be an offline list of postal mailing addresses, telephone, or fax numbers.

The best list is a targeted one, comprised of those who are at least familiar with you; with whom you've already developed a relationship of trust.

Ideally, it's made up of those who've already done business with you, or have at least expressed a sincere interest in similar types of goods you offer in past. It's NOT a list of randomly gathered (untargeted) contact information, whether email addresses to which unsolicited spam email is sent, or otherwise.

Once you've developed a good, targeted list, you have a valuable asset. For example:

* Valuable time, effort and expense are invested in gaining customers. Customer acquisition is one of largest marketing expenses. Many marketers toss this investment out window by selling one thing to a customer, one time, and forgetting about them forever. A good list, on other hand, lets you market your goods and services much less expensively.