Ever so often, I get an email asking if I want to purchase a list of contact information. I’m not sure why any of these solicitors would think I’m interested in said contact information. I have no idea what I would do with a bunch of random people’s info. In fact, now that I think about it, I might even pay not to be sent said contact information. That way I don’t have to worry about keeping track of these strangers' contact info and make sure nothing happens to it.
But there are people who apparently really want to pay for random people’s contact information. That’s because obtaining said contact information could help you look like a bigger company than you are with more customers than you have. That could, in turn, help you garner the interest of a big financial institution that would want to acquire you for millions of dollars and land you a great gig with a great title at the big financial institution. So said contact information—even if it isn’t accurate, or perhaps even entirely fabricated via computer algorithms—could actually be quite valuable to those people.
