Lead list
What is a lead list?
A lead list is a collection of potential customers that fit your criteria, each with contact details and useful context: company name, website, phone, email, location, notes and status. Lists come from directories, Google Maps, event attendee lists, communities or data providers.
A good lead list is specific and current. Five hundred businesses that all have the problem you solve beat five thousand random names.
Why a lead list matters
Outbound sales starts with a list. Its quality decides the reply rate more than the wording of any message.
How to build a lead list
- Define the filter: type of business, location, size and a sign they need you (no website, few reviews, a certain technology).
- Pull businesses from a source such as Google Maps.
- Remove duplicates, chains and closed businesses.
- Add contact details, ideally the business’s own published email.
- Keep a status per lead so nobody is contacted twice.
Related marketing terms
A lead is a person or business that might buy from you: someone who showed interest or fits your ideal customer, with a way to contact them.
Prospecting is searching for and qualifying potential customers, then making first contact to start a sales conversation.
Lead enrichment adds missing details to a lead, such as a work email, company size, website or role, so it can be qualified and contacted.
Buying email listsGrey hat
Buying email lists means purchasing contact data from a vendor to email people who never heard of you. It is legal in places and risky everywhere.
Google Maps scrapingGrey hat
Google Maps scraping means extracting business listings from Google Maps in bulk. Using Google’s official Places data is the safer route.