A sales lead database is the equivalent of the little black book of old. It’s a compendium of information on potential customers. Before the digital age, lead databases came in paper form. Sales managers would hold all of their data in one easily accessible spot. These gold mines are no longer bound to paper. They’ve evolved into huge digital databases. They’re also not held by individuals anymore. They’re held by businesses that offer access for a fee.
When you purchase access to a sales lead database, you’re accessing more than just a seemingly endless list of names and contact information. These advanced pieces of lead generation software often come jammed full of business insights, analysis, and even the ability to target leads. Used efficiently, sales lead databases have the chance to supercharge your business.
There are tons options on the market, and that number is growing all the time. Picking the right one for your business isn’t a decision that you should take lightly. That’s where we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll share precisely what to look for in a sales lead database before sharing some of the top options available to you.
- What are the key features of a sales lead database?
- Are there benefits to using one?
- How suitable is a sales lead database for my business?
Understanding Sales Lead Databases
Sales lead databases, on the surface, are huge collections of data about potential leads. These potential leads could be applicable to many different businesses. Often, they’re accessed through a subscription, a credit-spend agreement, or a one-time purchase. There are many companies that specialize in curating, storing, and sharing sales lead databases. Once you have access, expect to find contact information and workplace details as standard. Many then offer demographic information and potentially even purchase history and behavioral insight.
Note that a sales lead database is very different from your internal customer database, like the one that you hold within a CRM. These databases are sourced from a much wider pool of businesses and will hold information that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. If you’re looking for leads outside of your typical network or want to expand your reach, these databases become an indispensable tool.
Using a Sales Lead Database Within Your Strategy
Sales lead databases have the ability to take your already effective strategies and amplify them. By tapping into a broader market, you gain access to prospects that otherwise won’t have heard of your business. Then there’s all of the information about the prospects at your fingertips. Armed with this information, both sales and marketing departments no longer have to send a blind cold email. Instead, they can access the information in the database and craft a tailored and personalized piece of outreach.
What to Look for in a Sales Lead Database
For a sales lead database to be effective, it has to have certain features. The most important of those features is the data itself. Without detailed, accurate, quality data, there’s very little point in accessing the database. Following that, it’s important that your choice of database regularly updates its data. Infrequent data checks for relevance and accuracy lead to a messy, inaccurate database.
The next key element to look for is how wide the coverage is of various industries. This is especially important if you’re focusing on a particular niche. You want to make sure that it features. It’s also important if your market is broader. You may find that there are sections and audiences that you’ve yet to tap into.
A user-friendly UI doesn’t go amiss when accessing the database. When you log in to the system, it makes life far easier if you can quickly and easily find what you’re looking for. Talking of making life easier, it’s a huge plus point if the database can easily integrate with your current tech stack. If there’s no out-of-the-box integration, then investigate if there’s a way of achieving integration by using a third-party tool such as Zapier.
The best tools will have some advanced features for you to make use of. These include:
- Predictive analytics
- Audience segmentation
- Automated lead scoring
- AI-powered insights and tips
- Perfect client cloning
The Benefits of Using a Sales Lead Database
Enhanced Targeting and Personalization
When sales and marketing teams embed personalization into outreach that is targeting specific businesses or individuals, conversion rates soar. People like to feel that they’re having conversations with businesses that are genuine and direct. They don’t like to receive generic spam-style outreach. When using a database, you have all of the personalization information at your fingertips. Combine that with a sophisticated outreach tool, and you could automate the process.
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Manually combing the internet for potential leads is a painstakingly arduous task. With a powerful database in their hands, sales teams can minimize the amount of time they spend conducting such manual tasks. They can focus their time on the leads and conversations that are most likely to lead to a conversion. This often makes for a leaner, more efficient team, saving the business considerably on overheads.
Data-Driven Decision Making
Thanks to the increased number of leads that you can contact, there’s a dramatic increase in the amount of data that you hold. You can use the data on these interactions to learn about trends, response rates, customer behavior, and other useful information. You can then take what you learn and apply it to your future campaigns. It allows you to refine your strategies and allocate resources far more effectively.
The Competitive Edge
Markets are more competitive now than ever before. Often you’re left wondering where to find leads. You need to take every opportunity that you can to stay one step in front of competing businesses. Accessing a current, useful list of potential customers can set you apart from your competitors. Combine that with the insights that you’ll gain from the data, and you’ll be streets ahead.
The 4 Leading Sales Lead Databases of 2023
The following list is a compilation of the best sales lead databases available. These options cover the majority of the core features, have great functionality (such as a lead finder tool), and will have a dramatic impact on your business.
Instantly
Instantly’s B2B lead finder is the first item on our list. Instantly helps you find your business's ideal buyers using AI-powered workflows. The database is enormous, with over 160 million contacts. With such a huge range, you’ll be sure to find your next leads within it.
The beauty of Instantly is that there’s so much more to it than just the database. The process starts with a lead qualification system through email verification. That means that you’re sure to connect with the right person with no time wasted on erroneous leads. The best part? You’re only charged for leads that pass verification.
You’re also able to use the impressive filtering and audience segmentation tools. These further qualify the leads before you’ve even thought about conducting outreach. Filters include location, industry, and job title.
After filtering, you may think that you’ve found the perfect option. If you like it enough, simply use the clone feature, and Instantly will share other lead opportunities that match the same criteria.
The sales lead database is one thing, but when paired with the email marketing tool, your business will feel like it's turbocharged. Outreach is made simple thanks to a huge range of email templates, AI-powered account warmups, and deliverability tools that make sure your campaigns land in the inbox.
Key Features
- Filtering options
- Powerful email searching tool
- Clone feature
- Vast database
- Lead qualification through verification
- Advanced email software
Pricing
It’s completely free to get started with Instantly’s lead database. The leads part of the software gives you access to 1000 leads a month at $47 a month or 10,000 verified leads a month at $197 a month.
ZoomInfo
One of the largest sales lead databases available is provided by ZoomInfo. Their database is chock-full, with over 150 million contacts. The emails are all automatically verified, and many of the contacts come with phone numbers too. It’s a platform that’s trusted by some of the most well-known brands, including Zoom, Google, T-Mobile, and Snowflake.
You can, technically, access almost all of the info that’s collated within ZoomInfo yourself. It gathers the majority of it from places online, annual reports, and public records. It would, however, take an extraordinary amount of time and effort. Plus, their advanced web scraping tech claims to have access to information that is hidden from the public eye.
Key Features
- Access all of the information about specific individuals within companies
- Export data in bulk
- Create filters with notifications
- Access detailed company information.
Pricing: You can use ZoomInfo completely for free, but there’s a catch. You lose some of your data into the database. The mandatory Outlook extension collects information from your account and then submits it into the database. It’s a big ask for only 10 contacts a month.
The staggering $14,995 a year starting cost shows just who ZoomInfo is targeting. They want to work with the biggest and the best. Companies that have huge growth opportunities and equally big budgets.
The paid plans are aimed at organizations with a high turnover, exceptional levels of growth, and those that won’t flinch at the price point.
Apollo
Apollo’s database falls somewhere in the middle ground when we compare by size. It plays host to over 250 million contacts from 60 million different companies. It’s a similar platform to Instantly mentioned above. It comes with many features, such as automated workflows and email marketing campaigns.
Chrome users will find the extension incredibly useful, giving quick access from any webpage and a data scraping tool. Once you begin to access the database, the system delivers regular recommendations on avenues you might consider exploring and leads that might be worth investigating.
Pricing: A welcome feature from Apollo is the unlimited email credits on every tier of subscription. Even on the free plan. Paid plans start from $39 a month and include 300 mobile credits and 3000 export credits.
Key Features:
- Expansive database
- AI-powered recommendations
- Open-ended sequencing
- Uncapped sending limits
- A/B testing
- AI-assisted email writing tool.
RocketReach
With over 700 million individuals within 35 million companies, there aren’t many databases that can complete with RocketReach on size. Users access the database by using an advanced contact search feature. This also clearly displays verification information.
LinkedIn users will be comfortable using the extension that makes finding and scraping leads from the social network incredibly straightforward. Plus, if you’re looking to integrate it with your own tech stack, there are plenty of integrations available.
Pricing: Starting from $39 a month for 1,200 annual lookups per user. If you want to use integrations such as the ones to HubSpot or Zapier, you’ll need the Pro level. That is $99 a month for 3,600 annual lookups.
Key Takeaways
There is so much more to sales lead databases than just the leads and contact information themselves. They are tools that can empower growth and facilitate access to new, previously untapped markets. Adopting and using these databases could be a defining factor in business success especially as markets become more and more saturated with competition.
- Sales lead databases can offer huge volumes of leads, but remember to prioritize quality over quantity.
- Leverage the information within the data to deliver personalized and tailored campaigns.
- Use the data gathered from outreach to these leads to drive future campaign improvements.
- Not ready for a paid tool? Try these free lead finder tools.
Imagine having a comprehensive sales lead database and an email outreach tool in one accessible tool. It’s the efficiency chaser’s dream and is exactly what Instantly offers. Get started with it for free today.