Do your research! 15 ways to better assess a sales prospect

Someone owns a business. They are the decision maker. You think you will only get one shot, if you can manage to get an appointment. You want to learn as much as possible about them. How can you go about it?

Before doing an internet search …

Before doing internet research (or prospecting) first check with your compliance officer and get their approval. Always read and respect legal and privacy notices on websites. Only use them for the purpose originally intended by the site. It is very easy to get into trouble.

1. Do they have a LinkedIn profile? This is an excellent place to start. In the US, LinkedIn has 202 million user profiles. Since it’s a great tool for networking and finding the next job, plenty of professionals take the time to develop a profile.
2. Does their company have a LinkedIn profile? You can search for a person, but maybe you don’t have the name right. This might be a problem if they use middle initials or they have a very common name, since 58 million companies have profiles on This line of research should allow you to search for people employed at that firm.
3. Have you discovered mylife.com? This is a website that gathers information from property records and other public access databases to build profiles of people. It even researches court records. One of the benefits they promote is the ability to build a reputational profile.
4. Do they require a license for their profession? Many professions require a state-issued license to practice. net is a clearing house of 70,000+ public access databases on both the national and the state level. Lawyers, doctors, accountants and engineers are a few of the professions requiring licenses. If they require a license, there is likely a public access database for verification.
5. Are they an officer at their company? net is also useful for researching articles of incorporation and other company filings. This is done on a state by state basis. Some databases charge for access, others are free.
6. Do they serve on a corporate board? They would be pretty high up and the company pretty large for this to be the case. The firm BoardEx (com) was set up to find paths to specific corporate executives and board members through interlocking board relationships. There can be reason why an investment bank would want to reach a director, either for personal or firm business. As I recall, licensing this resource is expensive.
7. Have you done an internet search? Doing a search using Google or Bing can be useful to determine if they have published technical papers, articles or books.
8. Who else works at their firm? Let us assume you cannot find them on LinkedIn or they will not accept your invitation to connect. Do you have first level LinkedIn connections at that firm? Get in touch with them. Can they fill you in? Do you have second level connections? Reach out and invite them to be first level connections.
9. Where did they attend college? If you can view their LinkedIn profile, you should be able to learn where they went to school. Did you attend the same school? How about your LI connections? When I met with the BoardEx people years ago, they explained the initial outreach to the board member a firm wanted to cultivate was through a fellow alumnus at their own firm.
10. Can you find their phone number? There are many online databases for phone numbers. You can often search by name, by address or using the site as a reverse directory. Although people might have unlisted numbers, they often have more than one phone. This can also help in determining the address of their residence. It’s worth a try. If they work at a company, there should be a central phone number for the business.
11. Can you back into their e-mail address? They work at a company. You have other LinkedIn connections at the same firm. By looking at several e-mail addresses at the business, you should be able to determine the protocol they use and back into what the executive’s e-mail address is likely to be.
12. Do they belong to a professional association? If they hold a position of responsibility, they might represent the firm at the Chamber. They might be a medical professional who has joined the local society chapter. Now you have more information, especially if you know people within the organization.
13. Does their LinkedIn or online profile indicate any hobbies? People often take pride in what they do in their spare time. This could be a point of contact.
14. Do they send their children to the private school in the area? If you have connections who are parents of students, you may have a way of meeting them.
15. Do they belong to a country club? People in the public eye often want to socialize away from the public’s gaze. Private clubs fill this need. If you belong to the same club or have friends who belong to different clubs, they can likely tell you if they know them as a member.

Related: Inside connections: 6 ways to get a foot in the door at a prospect company

Here is the amazing thing: If you are an honest, decent person, it is amazing the amount of information that is available to you in the public domain. However, a word of caution: Be careful how you find it and how you use it.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.