As far as local business listings go, you're only as good as your database: JustDial, among India's largest business listings businesses has introduced a Reseller program, writes Pluggd.in. JustDial is looking to pay people to collect data for their database - resellers will be paid Rs. 15 for every unique data (not in JustDial's records), and an additional Rs. 5 for a photo. Not a new model - print based Yellow Pages listings have traditionally charged for listings, and had feet-on-the-street for collecting data and selling space in their listings. It's interesting that JustDial is replicating this model for its telephonic and website based business search service: they are effectively recruiting a large, on-ground sales force that will sell sponsored/premium search results, and help scale its advertiser base significantly (hence perhaps bring stability to revenues?). We see this more as a sales initiative than a data collection initiative: sure you need to keep updating your data (data validation is critical), but that can also be seen as a starting point for the sales process for JustDial. JustDial offers the recruit 33% of money earned from selling Smart Listings (which we assume will be used for lead generation by businesses), and 20% of the money paid for monthly renewals. Smart Listings cost Rs. 2999 for Type A cities (where JustDial has an office) and Rs. 1500 in others, while monthly renewals cost Rs. 500. In the past, Info Edge (Naukri) has hired a large sales force of over 1200, to sell…
