Auto-Identify Bad Phone Numbers

When you say bad phone number, do you mean it isn't valid at all or just doesn't match the lead?

It is a pretty hard problem to solve as there isn't really a way to know who a number belongs to without calling it. That said, I've seen companies take an alternative approach and buy numbers for their leads with Data.com.

Hey Erik! We met at summit last year, and you helped talk us through how to use the API on non-Marketo forms to direct the information into Marketo before it enters Salesforce.

We're looking for the former. We receive a ton of bad numbers like (123) 456-7890. Despite being visibily invalid, our sales reps will still call these leads, as we have some top-line performance metrics based on dials and talk time. This makes up about 15% of all leads, so we would like to automate invalid lead data collection process as much as possible.

Hey Matt, I thought that was you.

If the invalid ones form a consistent pattern you might be able to create some data management Smart Campaigns or Javascript validation on forms. Alternatively, someone may know of a webservice that does phone validation which you could possibly call with a webhook.

Just ideas- I don't have a great service to point you at.

-Erik

Not with Marketo. Two reasonable options:

1.  Create workflow in Salesforce that 1) reads the number of digits in a number and marks as a defect if it is more or less than 10; and 2) reads the first three digits in a number and marks as a defect if it does not match a separate lookup table of approved US phone numbers.

2.  Use a third-party company like Experian. This is the route we're taking.

Thank you Matt!