Useful whether or not you work with us.
A guide to choosing a provider, a plain-language glossary, and answers to the questions we are asked most.
Ten questions to ask any lead data provider.
Including us. They separate real research from a resold database.
How do you calculate your accuracy figure?
A percentage means nothing without a method. Ask what was measured, on what sample, and when.
Where does the data come from?
A straight answer names the types of source. If they will not give one, you cannot assess whether you can use the data.
What does “verified” mean here?
It can mean a full check of role and deliverability, or a syntax test on an address. Ask exactly which checks run.
How recently was this record checked?
A record confirmed long ago is a guess presented as a fact. Ask whether every record carries the date it was last checked.
How much of my target market do you cover?
Coverage of a database overall is irrelevant. Ask for a sample drawn from your criteria.
What happens to records you cannot confirm?
The right answer: they are labeled or withheld. The wrong answer: they go in anyway.
How are opt-out requests handled?
Ask what happens when someone asks to be removed, how quickly, and whether the removal persists.
What am I permitted to do with the data?
Usage terms should be written and agreed before delivery. Ask whether the license is limited by time, campaign, or user.
Can I see how one record was built?
Pick a record and ask them to trace it. A provider working from documented sources can.
What do you refuse to do?
A provider with real standards answers immediately. If nothing is out of scope, nothing is being controlled.
One more test: ask what they will not do. Ours are on the Standards page.
Terms used in this industry, in plain language.
The terms you will meet when comparing providers.
- B2B lead
- A company, and a named person inside it, that could plausibly buy what you sell.
- Ideal customer profile
- A written description of the company that gets the most value from what you sell.
- Firmographic data
- Facts about a company rather than a person: industry, size, location, structure, ownership.
- Technographic data
- The technology a company uses. Relevant when what you sell depends on, replaces, or integrates with a system.
- Market mapping
- A structured picture of a market: its segments and which companies operate in each.
- Segmentation
- Splitting a market into groups different enough to be approached differently.
- Account identification
- Confirming a company is real, trading, independent, and not a duplicate.
- Contact discovery
- Finding the people inside a company who hold the responsibility relevant to what you sell.
- Contact verification
- Confirming a person is still in the role and that their details are current and working.
- Deliverability check
- A test that an email address accepts mail. It says nothing about whether anyone will reply.
- Accept-all domain
- A mail server that accepts every address, valid or not. Those addresses cannot be fully confirmed and should be labeled.
- Data qualification
- Applying agreed rules to every record so only those meeting your standard are delivered.
- Exclusion list
- Companies you do not want contacted: customers, competitors, live opportunities. Supplied by you, applied by us.
- Source attribution
- Recording where each piece of information came from, so a record can be traced back and checked.
- Suppression list
- People and companies that must not be contacted again. It has to persist to mean anything.
- Opt-out
- A request to have one’s information removed. Most privacy laws require it to be honored within a set period.
- Data licensing
- The written terms for how a delivered set may be used, by whom, and for how long.
- Match rate
- The share of a list you supply that a provider can find and enrich. Test it on your own accounts.
- Refresh cadence
- How often records are re-checked. A one-off check at purchase does not keep data usable.
- Buying signal
- An observable change suggesting a coming need: expansion, relevant hiring, a new site, restructuring.
What people ask us.
Are you a lead generation agency or a research company?
A research company. We identify companies, find the right people, and confirm their details. We never contact your prospects.
Do you contact our prospects on our behalf?
No. Your team makes first contact, so the first thing a prospect hears about you comes from you.
Do you sell a database or a subscription?
No. We research against your brief. What you receive is built for your criteria, not pulled from a general database.
Is the same research sold to our competitors?
No. Work carried out for you is not resold, and your criteria are not reused for another client.
What if a contact turns out to be wrong?
Tell us and we re-check it. If a record did not meet the standard we described, we correct or replace it.
What do you need from us to start?
What you sell, who buys it, the markets in scope, the roles that matter, and anyone to exclude. If that is loose, we ask.
Can you work in a market we have not sold into before?
Yes, and it is a common reason to bring in research. Mapping and industry research matter more when the market is new to you.
How large is a typical piece of work?
It depends how narrow your criteria are. A tight brief produces fewer accounts, and that is usually the point.
What formats can you deliver in?
Structured formats that load into standard CRM systems without cleanup. Tell us what your team uses.
Do you guarantee a response rate?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. We are responsible for accuracy and fit; what happens after contact depends on your offer and approach.
What happens if you cannot confirm something?
It is labeled unconfirmed, or left out. It never goes in unmarked, and the written summary says why.
Do you work with companies of our size?
The work suits teams selling into defined markets where the right accounts matter more than the number. If we are not a fit, we say so.
Still deciding?
If anything above raised a question about how we work, ask us directly.
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