I had the good fortune to speak to Jim Fowler of Jigsaw about his company and the sourcing services they offer to recruiters. What was unique about the interview was the meeting was set up by a PR company for Jim, as a way to connect his business to recruiting bloggers (I thought that was a neat detail).
My impression of Jigsaw when we first started was way off the mark. I thought it was LinkedIn or ZoomInfo, basically the recruiting equivalent of a Hoover’s. People put in their contact information and recruiter’s then have access. What Jim explained is a world of difference. LinkedIn is a permission-based social networking site that allows you to make trusted connections. ZoomInfo scrapes the web for relevant biographical information. Jigsaw is a database of individually entered contacts with direct dial numbers and a data-cleansing function to increase the validity of the leads.
I know someone’s ears perked up when I said direct dial, and it’s true. The numbers entered into the database are the same as that on a business card, and that’s how the community works. You enter your contact names, and this gives you access to other people’s through a point system, or you can pay for the right to access names.
Jigsaw just passed the 5,000,000 mark in its database, secured $8 MM in venture capital financing, and has over150,000 registered users, primarily sales and recruiting folks.
My two big questions and Jim Fowler's paraphrased answers from my notes:
Why would anyone put in good contact names? How can you justify putting in contact information for other people?
This isn’t about privacy, it’s about data. Data is centralizing, and marketers are already gathering the information elsewhere. It’s available for sale already through other entities. The Jigsaw system allows you to put data in and get something back for it, rather than your competitors. You can’t hide from it, so you may as well manage your own information and learn to use it.
How do you create quality in this system?
Jigsaw has a user-rating system that allows people to track the quality of the information they use. This works well with the points system to encourage people to put good information in. There’s also a reward system where tracking down bad data gives you double points. If you call a number, and the data is wrong, you get double points and the person who entered the information gets docked. If you are docked too much, they scrub all of your contact info from the system. As far as quality of contacts, you have to look at it as, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. You meet many people, and not all of them are prized clients. Entering their information gives you points, and may benefit another person. The number of people in the system have proved the quality, and currently, large numbers of salespeople (70%), and recruiters use the system.
I was impressed with what I learned, as well as with Jim Fowler. He offered to walk me through the system, gave me 100 bonus points, and I have referral information for four big name company users. If you're curious about signing up, or claiming your own information, go to http://www.jigsaw.com
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