How to Build a Prospect List Quickly and Easily in 2024

Have you ever wondered how some businesses seem to always know who to talk to, when, and how?

It all starts with something pretty basic: a prospect list.

Think of it as your personal guide to who’s who in the potential customer world, filled with the right information to reach them effectively and, more importantly, convert them!

Getting this right can mean the difference between a ‘meh’ business year and your best year yet.

But how to build a prospect list quickly in 2024?

In this article, we’ll show you exactly how not just quickly but also easily.

Prospect List Building 101: Fundamentals and Importance

Before diving into the “how,” let’s get clear on the “what” and “why.”

A prospect list is more than just a spreadsheet filled with names and contact information – it’s the foundation of your outreach efforts.

And, a solid understanding of what a prospect list is, its importance in your sales strategy, and what ideally should be included in it sets the stage for more effective, result-driven list building.

Many businesses don’t put much thought into this and instead of creating a prospect list, they end up with a basic contact list which just leads to wasted time, effort, and money.

Everything you do, sales and marketing-wise, should be result-driven, and making a prospect list is no exception.

However, to create a truly *effective* prospect list, one that will ACTUALLY help you achieve revenue goals and targets in 2024, you first need to have a complete understanding of it.

What is a prospect list?

A prospect list is essentially a list of potential customers that fit your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer persona.

Usually in datasheet format, these lists contain essential details about potential customers like names, contact information, and often additional insights that help your sales team better understand and connect with each prospect.

These might include their company size, industry, job title, buying habits, and many other relevant information. (more on this in a bit)

To avoid confusion, it’s important to clarify something for those who might not be familiar with all the marketing and sales jargon. Often, the terms ‘prospect’ and ‘lead’ are used interchangeably, but they’re not exactly the same. And although there are a couple of different definitions for these terms (which actually created the confusion in the 1st place), when we talk about lists, these are the most relevant ones:

👉 A ‘lead’ is anyone who might be interested in your products or services.
👉 A ‘prospect,’ however, is more specific – it’s a lead who has been qualified as fitting your Ideal Customer Profile.

So basically the ‘lead list’ is a list of people that might be interested in your offering and ‘prospect list’ is a list of people that match your ICP.

Logically, those on the prospect list are much more likely to buy.

Importance of a prospect list

But, why bother with a prospect list?

It’s simple.

The goal of a prospect list is to help you make your outreach as effective as possible by allowing you to:

• focus on people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services,
• in a way that would resonate with them,
• at just the right moment.

This not only saves time and increases efficiency but also boosts your chances of turning potential customers into actual customers.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the benefits prospecting list brings to your B2B company.

1# Increased efficiency

Efficiency in business means getting the best results possible with minimal waste of effort, time, and money.

Essentially, it is all about getting the most out of your resources, and the prospect list helps a LOT with that.

To help you understand how much efficiency matters let’s break down what typically happens in many B2B companies:

They compile what they call a ‘prospect list,’ which is often just a random assortment of contacts.

They stack it with names, phone numbers, and emails—anyone they can reach out to in hopes of making a sale.

Their logic often goes something like this:

“Hey, let’s gather as many contacts as we can, reach out, and hope some stick. It’s all about numbers, right?” 🤡

Well, not quite.

Effective selling is about much more than just sheer volume.

The old ‘spray and pray‘ method – blasting out calls and emails to every contact you can get your hands on, regardless of whether they match your ICP, buyer profile, or even need what you offer in hopes of making a sale is a massive waste of time, effort, and resources. That’s the exact opposite of what we all are striving for – maximum efficiency.

Now, you can already guess how having the actual prospect list helps with increasing your efficiency.

When you have a list of people who fit your ICP and buyer profile, who WANT and NEED your product or service, every call, every email, and every campaign you run is more likely to result in a sale.

This targeted approach reduces effort, time, and money wasted on those who have very slim or no chance of buying and directs all your resources on prospects with the highest potential for conversion.

By investing your resources where they count the most, you enhance overall business efficiency, ensuring that every resource spent brings you closer to your desired outcomes.

In one sentence, prospect list basically helps you reach your sales goals and revenue targets FASTER, with MINIMAL waste of resources.

This is what we call MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY.

2# Improved conversion rates and more sales

Many businesses make the mistake of using conversion rates and the number of sales as metrics to measure the efficiency of their sales and marketing strategies, but often, the problem isn’t with the strategies themselves – it’s about targeting the wrong people.

No matter how good your sales and marketing tactics are, if they’re directed at the wrong audience, they simply won’t work.

Think about it like this:

If you were selling winter boots, you wouldn’t waste time and resources advertising them in tropical regions because it wouldn’t make sense.

You’d target areas where cold weather makes boots a necessity.

However, strangely enough, when it comes to selling more complex offerings like programs, courses, trainings, or services, many businesses forget this logic.

They fail to apply the same targeted approach, which leads to poor conversion rates and disappointing sales figures.

By using a well-defined prospecting list, you focus your efforts on individuals who actually need and are interested in what you offer. This alignment dramatically improves your conversion rates because your messages reach the right ears – people who are already inclined to what you’re selling.

3# Increased revenue and ROI

When you list all of the benefits prospect list offers:

• shorter sales cycles
• better resource allocation
• improved efficiency
• increased conversion rates
• more sales

They all lead and contribute directly to the ultimate goal of any business: increasing revenue.

Revenue is the lifeblood of your business. It’s what keeps the lights on and drives growth.

And no, revenue isn’t just about the cash that flows in.

It’s about the health and growth potential of your business.

More revenue means more opportunities to expand, innovate, and stabilize your operations in a competitive market.

Every sales activity, marketing campaign, and business strategy aims to boost this vital metric.

And when your revenue increases as a result of targeted efforts informed by a strong prospect list, you’re not just making more money – you’re also improving your return on investment.

Return on investment (ROI) measures the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.

It’s about getting the MAXIMUM OUTPUT from EVERY DOLLAR you spend.

By focusing your sales and marketing efforts on qualified leads from your prospect list, you’re ensuring that every effort made has the potential for the highest return.

This precision reduces waste and maximizes impact.

In simple terms, a well-maintained prospect list doesn’t just bring in more sales. It enhances the financial efficiency of your entire operation.

You’re not just earning more.

You’re earning smarter, ensuring that every effort contributes directly to your bottom line.

What should the prospect list include

Creating the perfect B2B prospect list isn’t a one-size-fits-all task, as what you include will depend heavily on your industry, the products or services you offer, and your overarching business goals.

To kick things off, here’s a basic rundown of what you should consider including in your prospect list, categorized into: ‘Must-Have‘ and ‘Nice-to-Have.’

Must-Have Information:

• Prospect’s Name: This is your starting point – knowing who you are dealing with.
• Contact Information: Email addresses and phone numbers are the bare minimum needed to initiate any form of contact.
• Company Details: Understanding where your prospect works, the size of the company, and its location helps you assess whether they’re a good fit for your product or service.
• Industry: This information allows you to tailor your approach to meet industry-specific needs and challenges.
• Job Title: Knowing whether your contact is a decision-maker or an influencer can shape how you communicate.

Nice-to-Have Information:

• Buyer Intent Data: Insights into a prospect’s actions, like visits to review sites or product comparisons, can signal their readiness to buy.
• Technographics: Knowing what software the prospect’s company already uses can help you understand their needs and how well your solution fits into their current tech stack.
• Selling Triggers: These are events that might signal a prospect’s readiness to engage, such as recent funding rounds or executive changes.
• Social Media Profiles: These can provide a fuller picture of the prospect’s interests and business focus.

The goal is to compile a sales prospecting list that is as comprehensive as possible without being unwieldy.

Each piece of information should serve a purpose in personalizing outreach and enhancing the chances of conversion.

Remember, the more you know about your prospects, the better you can serve them exactly what they need, exactly when they need it.

How to Build a Prospect List Quickly and Easily in 2024

Alright, now that you understand the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a prospect list, it’s time to go into ‘how.’

In this section, we’ll break down how to build a prospect list quickly and easily in 2024.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to refine your existing list, these guidelines will help you get the job done efficiently and effectively.

Let’s get started ⤵️

1. Know everything about your product

The first step in building your prospect list is something that might come as unexpected and that is getting to know your product inside and out.

This isn’t just about understanding the basic features.

It’s about truly grasping what your product and service does, the problems it solves, why it matters to your customers and how it fits into the lives and workflows of your potential customers.

To really get a grip on your product, start with the basics:

• What does your product do? Know every feature and function.
• Who uses your product? Identify the typical user and their daily challenges.
• What problems does it solve? Pinpoint the pain points your product addresses.

Then, go deeper by examining:

• Customer success stories: Learn from what’s worked. How have existing customers benefited from your product?
• Feedback loops: Pay attention to what customers say. What do they love? What do they think could be improved?
• Comparing with competitors: Understand where your product stands in the market. What do competitors offer, and what makes your product different or better?

And then, go even deeper:

• Dive into customer reviews on sites like G2 or Trustpilot. See what people are saying.
• Listen to sales calls if you can. Platforms like Gong are great for this.
• Keep an eye on social media. What are people saying about your product or similar products?
• Talk to your product development team, sales people, and customer service reps. They have insights that can refine your understanding.

Why does this matter?

When you know your product inside and out, you can better identify who will benefit most from it.

This helps in creating a prospect list that targets potential customers more accurately, making your sales efforts more effective and your pitches more compelling.

Armed with this knowledge, you’ll not only know who to reach out to but also how to talk to them in a way that resonates.

Without this understanding, you might as well be shooting blindly, wasting time and resources on leads that will never convert.

Speaking of knowing who to target…

2. Define your ICP

There are two things you need to define:

• Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
• Your buyer persona

Let’s start with the ICP.

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is essentially a blueprint of the perfect customer for your product or service. This isn’t just any potential buyer. It’s the one who gains the most from what you offer, fits perfectly with your business model, and is most likely to buy and remain a loyal customer.

Think of the ICP as your dream business client.

They have the right size, budget, needs, and values that align beautifully with your offerings—a true match made in heaven!

Here’s how to go about defining your ICP:

1. Choose Your Market Segment

Your ICP isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Different market segments have distinct needs and characteristics.

Choose which segment you want to focus on based on where you’ve seen the most success or potential.

2. Identify Your Best Customers

Think about who has benefited most from your product in the past.

What do these B2B customers have in common?

Understanding this helps you spot similar prospects.

3. Gather Data

Gather information to understand your ideal customers better.

This includes both soft data (like customer feedback and preferences) and hard data (like industry, company size, and buying patterns).

4. Create an ICP

Once you have all of this in place it’s time to create an ICP. To create one, you need to fill in the following categories:

• Firmographics: These include company size, sector, revenue, and location.
• Psychographics: Such as their values, interests, and attitudes.
• Goals and Objectives: What are they aiming to achieve with your product?
• Pain Points: What challenges do they face that your product solves?
• Buying Process: Understand how they make purchasing decisions.

And voila, you’ve created an ICP.

Just remember, your ICP can evolve as you enter new markets or as existing markets change, so it’s important to revisit and refine your ICP periodically to keep it relevant.

3. Build your Bayer Persona

Once you have your ICP sorted, you need to build your Bayer Persona.

As the name suggests, a Buyer Persona is a detailed profile of the individuals within companies you’ve identified in your ICP. These are the actual people who will interact with your product or service, make purchasing decisions, or influence those decisions.

Here’s how you can create a Buyer Persona effectively:

1. Identify Decision-Makers and Influencers

Start by figuring out who in the company actually makes the purchasing decisions and who influences these decisions.

Is it a CEO, a CFO, or perhaps a department head?

2. Understand Their Needs and Challenges

What needs are they looking to fulfill?

What specific challenges do these individuals face that your product or service can solve?

Understanding their personal pain points can make your pitch more relatable and targeted.

3. Gather Demographic and Psychographic Information

Collect information like age, job role, education, and even personal interests.

Also, consider their goals, frustrations, and professional aspirations.

4. Analyze Their Behavior

How do they gather information?

What publications do they read, and what social networks do they frequent?

This will help you tailor your marketing efforts to be seen in the right places.

5. Decision-Making Process

Understand the steps they take from recognizing a need to making a purchase.

• Who else influences their decisions?
• What factors are crucial in their evaluation process?
• How do they typically buy products or services and what factors motivate their decisions?
• Are they more responsive to cost savings, efficiency improvements, or something else?

6. Communication Preferences

Do they prefer email, phone calls, social media, or face-to-face meetings?

Knowing this can help you decide how best to reach out.

By building a detailed Buyer Persona, you align your prospecting strategies more closely with the needs and behaviors of your actual buyers.

This isn’t just a theoretical exercise.

It’s a practical tool that guides how you communicate, what you emphasize in your messaging, and even the timing of your sales outreach.

This level of detail helps ensure that your sales efforts resonate more deeply with potential buyers, making it easier to convert them into customers because you’re speaking directly to their needs, in their language, on their terms.

4. Make a plan on how you’ll organize and track prospect data

Before you start creating your prospect list, you need to plan how you’ll organize and track B2B prospect data.

You might think a basic spreadsheet will do the trick, and it can, but let’s face it—it’s easy to get lost in a sea of cells and rows.

That’s why many businesses opt for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system.

When it comes to CRMs, there are gazillions available, but to make this easier for you, here are the top CRMs in 2024 to consider:

1. Salesforce: Great for larger businesses with complex sales cycles.
2. Zoho: Offers a good balance for mid-sized businesses.
3. HubSpot: Ideal for those who need an easy-to-use interface with excellent automation features.

If you’re just starting out, you might start with a basic spreadsheet to gather your initial data.

However once your list begins to expand, transferring this data to a CRM will save you time and headaches.

With a CRM, you can easily access, view, find, edit, and update all your prospect data in one centralized place, enhancing both efficiency and accuracy.

5. Start creating your prospect list

Now that you’ve set up the system for how you’ll organize and track prospect data, it’s time to actually start creating your prospect list.

This is where all the groundwork you’ve laid – from knowing your product to understanding your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Buyer Persona – starts to pay off.

Here, we’ll focus on the 3F’s:

1. Find companies that match your ICP.
2. Find buyer personas within those companies.
3. Find their information.

Let’s break down one by one:

1) Find companies that match your ICP

This is our starting point.

Take a look at your ICP and start looking for companies that match it.

You can use industry directories, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, company databases, or even Google searches to find these companies.

Also, consider exploring recently founded companies, as they are often more likely to invest in new tools and services.

But keep in mind, companies you find here must match your ICP perfectly to avoid wasting efforts down the line.

Some sites you might find useful:

• Crunchbase
• Hoovers
• Techsalerator
• Zoominfo
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator

2) Find Buyer Personas within those companies

With a list of companies in hand, it’s time to identify the decision-makers or influencers within these organizations.

These are the people who will interact with your product, make purchasing decisions, or influence those decisions.

They could be Founders, CEOs, CTOs, managers, or specific department heads.

To find these people, there are two key places you should look:

1) LinkedIn
2) Company websites

LinkedIn, with over 1 billion members, is one of the most popular social media platforms for businesses. It’s highly likely that the companies you’ve identified have a LinkedIn company page where you can find key employees.

The second best place to search for this information is the company website. Many organizations list their key personnel on their site, particularly in staff directories or on ‘About Us’ pages.

3) Find their information

We’ve already know plenty about them as we’ve built our Buyer Persona so what we are looking for here is contact information and some specific information about them so we can personalize our outreach and marketing campaigns.

The best place to find this information is, again, LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn, they usually post about their work achievements or share content related to their industry that can give insights into their professional interests.

And, while their contact information like email and sometimes even a phone number is usually there, keep in mind that the emails found on LinkedIn aren’t their primary email most of the time.

In many cases, they can be outdated and not used at all.

These are busy people with bunch of emails.

So what’s the best thing to do here to make sure you have their primary email so you can maximize your chances of your message reaching their inbox and their eyes?

Well, in situations like this, tools like ZeroIn can make a huge difference.

ZeroIn is an email finder tool and it can help you find business emails verified in real-time.

Here’s a short video of ZeroIn in action to get a sense of how it works and how it can help:

Simple as that!

What’s more, ZeroIn has a 98% accuracy rate and offers 26 different data points on leads and companies. Plus, it’s GDPR compliant, so you can use it without worrying about compliance issues.

Wanna give it a try? Click here and try it out for free!

6. Prioritize your prospects

The work isn’t done yet.

After compiling your prospect list, the final step before outreach is prioritizing your prospects.

Since every prospect on this list already fits your ICP and meets the criteria you’ve defined, the next task is to determine which ones to approach first.

Here’s how to effectively prioritize your prospects:

1. Purchase Readiness: Determine which prospects need your solution urgently. This might be indicated by their current use of inferior products, recent company developments, or competitive movements in their industry.

2. Potential Value: Some prospects, while fitting your ICP, might offer larger strategic value due to their size, market influence, or purchase capacity. Prioritize prospects who could become key accounts.

3. Accessibility: Give higher priority to sales prospects who are easier to reach and engage with. This includes those with whom you’ve already established some relationship as they have higher potential for reward and lower risk of long sales cycles or challenges in conversion.

Remember the maximum efficiency we talked about at the beginning of this article?

Well, prioritizing your prospects effectively is the key to achieving it.

By focusing your outreach efforts on the prospects who are:

✅ most ready to buy
✅ offer the greatest potential value
✅ and are the easiest to reach

You’re not just hoping for results – you’re strategically driving towards them.

How To Build a Prospect List Quickly – An Action Plan

With a clear understanding of how to identify and prioritize the right prospects, it’s time to translate these insights into a structured action plan.

This roadmap will guide you through the systematic steps necessary to create a robust prospect list:

1. Set Clear Objectives

Define what success looks like in concrete terms.

For instance, aim to increase lead generation by 30% within the next quarter, or set a target to acquire 100 new customers by the end of the fiscal year.

Having specific, measurable, and time-bound goals will not only focus your efforts but also provide a clear benchmark for measuring your progress and adjusting your strategies and campaigns as needed.

2. Allocate Resources

Determine what tools, time, and personnel are needed.

Ensure you have the right CRM software, like ZeroIn, and allocate enough time for your team to carry out the tasks without feeling rushed.

3. Develop a Timeline

Create a realistic timeline for each stage of your prospect list building.

Include deadlines for initial research, outreach phases, and follow-up actions.

4. Monitor and Adjust

Keep track of your progress and be ready to adjust your strategy as needed.

Use metrics from your CRM to analyze the effectiveness of your approach and make data-driven decisions.

5. Regular Review Sessions

Schedule regular meetings to review the progress with your sales and marketing team. These sessions are crucial for addressing challenges and refining campaigns to ensure the plan remains aligned with your business goals.

By following this action plan, you ensure that every step taken is deliberate and contributes to the ultimate goal of increasing your revenue.

Strategic Hacks to Built Your Prospect List Faster

Alright, you have everything you need to build a robust sales prospect list, but it’s no secret that compiling this list can be a time-consuming and effort-intensive process.

However, there are some strategic hacks you can use to speed up the process without compromising the quality of your prospects.

Here are 2 strategic hacks to help you build your prospect list faster:

1# Hack – Buy a Lead List

Starting with a purchased lead list can jumpstart your prospecting efforts.

While a lead list comprises individuals who might be interested in your products or services, a high-quality lead list can also include a significant number of individuals who fit your ICP.

For instance, if you purchase a well-defined lead list with 1000 potential leads, a good one might yield over 500 potential prospects.

However, beware of lower-quality lists, as you might end up with only about 100 prospects out of 1000 leads.

It’s crucial to source your lists from reputable providers to ensure the sales leads are as close to your ICP as possible.

Earlier this year, we were also looking for a good lead list and the truth is, it was very hard to find good ones, so we spotted the opportunity to help many of those who were in the same situation as us and we’ve created a couple of lead lists which you can check here:

• All of our VP Email Lists
• VP Email List – Accounting, HR, Management Consulting and Logistics
• VP Email List – Apparel and Fashion, Cosmetics and Luxury
• VP Email List – Banking, Financial Services and Venture Capital
• VP Email List – Computer Software
• VP Email List – Marketing and Advertising, Public Relations and Publishing

2# Hack – Automate Data Collection

Automation tools can dramatically reduce the legwork involved in identifying and qualifying prospects.

Use CRM tools that integrate with your sales platforms to automatically update prospect information based on predefined criteria.

Additionally, tools like ZeroIn can automate the process of verifying and sorting email addresses, ensuring you spend more time connecting with potential customers rather than sifting through data.

Plus, with ZeroIn you also get lite CRM if you don’t need something too advanced and complex:

Building a Quality Prospect List: A Key to Successful Business Growth

Business growth is all about connecting with as many right people as possible.

The more right people you can reach ➡️ the more of them make a purchase ➡️ the more sales you make ➡️ the more your business grows.

It’s that simple.

That’s why knowing how to build a prospect list quickly and effectively is more than just a tactical advantage – it’s a fundamental element of a successful business strategy.

So, invest the time to build this list thoughtfully, and you’ll see it pay dividends in terms of sales, revenue, and growth.