Public company registers are the largest free source of business data. Used well, they are a strong starting point for B2B lead generation. But a register entry is not yet a lead. Here is what you really get, what is missing and how to close the gap.
What registers contain
National registers (Companies House in the UK, and equivalents across Europe) usually list the company name, address, registered activity, incorporation date, status and the directors or officers. Some also expose the company's sector and size.
What registers do not contain
- a personal work e-mail for a specific decision-maker,
- a current mobile number,
- whether the company is actually a fit for your offer — the registered activity code is only a hint.
This is why a list of "10,000 companies with e-mails" generated in seconds almost always relies on addresses guessed from a pattern or scraped from sources you cannot cite. Those addresses bounce and hurt your sender reputation.
How to turn a record into a lead
- Filter by sector, region and "active" status, but do not stop there.
- Visit the company website — that is where the real e-mail and the right contact person are.
- Match against your ideal customer profile and drop what does not fit.
- Record the source of every contact, for GDPR.
TropLead combines register data with company websites, matches the list to your customer profile and delivers it with the source of every contact. You get a ready list, not raw records.