Lists rot at a published rate
76,840 UK businesses closed in a single quarter. Closures get read as bad news and then ignored.
Every figure is cited on screen. Company examples are fictional specimens.
Music: Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0
Transcript
- 0:00
76,840 UK businesses closed in a single quarter. Closures get read as bad news and then ignored.
- 0:12
They are the most useful number on the sheet if you sell to businesses, because they tell you how fast your list is rotting.
- 0:22
Transport and storage closed 16.5 per cent of its businesses in a year, against a UK average of 9.8. Finance and insurance closed 6.6.
- 0:36
So in the year after you build a list of transport firms, about one in six will no longer be trading. In finance, closer to one in fifteen. That is before anyone moves, renames or changes director.
- 0:54
A bought list is a depreciating asset, and the rate is published. One that keeps checking is worth more than one that was accurate once.
- 1:05
We re-check every company every month. A list nobody re-checks is wrong by design.
About this film
Lists rot at a published rate runs 1:13, read by Imogen and appears on Leadistry's Blog page. The full narration is above in 6 sections, so you can read it instead of watching if that is quicker. Every figure shown on screen comes from the Companies House public record or a named published source, and the companies used as examples are fictional specimens rather than real customers.