Cold calling is still a highly effective way for B2B companies to generate leads and start building relationships with key prospects. But before your sales team can start making cold calls, they need the direct lines, or business phone numbers, of key decision-makers at targeted companies for their cold calling lists. If you’re skeptical cold calling works, check out these cold calling B2B sales stats.
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But how do you find business phone numbers? We’ll show you some of the best ways to get the contact information of key players at your targeted companies.
What is a Business Phone Number?
A business phone number is the telephone number of a company or individual who works at a company. In the B2B world, salespeople seek out the business phone number of key decision-makers, such as:
- CEOs
- CMOs
- CTOs
- VP and Director Level Contacts
- Founders
Having the business phone number of these key individuals allows salespeople to place cold calls and start building a rapport with the company.
How to Find Business Phone Numbers
It’s not always easy to find the business phone numbers of decision-makers. Rarely is contact information available right on the team’s page. In most cases, you have to seek out their contact information from third-party directories or websites.
Here are some of the best ways to find business phone numbers.
Buy Business Phone Numbers
One simple but effective way to find business phone numbers is to buy them. If you have the budget, buying business phone numbers is a quick and easy way to get in touch with the right people more quickly.
Buying phone numbers allows you to:
- Make cold calls
- Send follow-up cold emails
- Build up your pipeline
These leads come at a high cost, but they’re also:
- High-quality
- Targeted
- Timesaving
When buying business phone numbers, it’s important to:
- Consider quality. If the lead information is inaccurate and their database isn’t updated regularly, the information may be useless.
- Test a sample of their list. Call contacts to ensure their information is correct and updated. With a shift remote work, any SDR or Inside Sales consultant will tell you how important mobile numbers are.
Remember that cheap leads come at a high cost. They waste your time and eat into your budget because they deliver no return.
Finding a quality, reliable provider can be tricky. Here are some of the top-rated options available.
Wiza is a powerful B2B contact database with 830M+ contacts that includes business phone numbers, mobile phone numbers, and real-time verified email addresses.
Wiza has a sleek UI and supports one-click exporting to CSV and integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach, and other CRMs so you can easily send your data to where it’s needed.
It also includes a free email and phone finder Chrome extension that enables you to get phone numbers while browsing LinkedIn Profiles or searching in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which is quite popular with users.
As of 2024, Wiza is trusted by 350,000+ sales, marketing, and recruiting professionals at companies like Salesforce, Slack, Google, and Microsoft to quickly find accurate business phone numbers and contact data to power outreach.
You can try Wiza for free today or sign up for their paid plans starting at $25/mo.
ZoomInfo offers a suite of tools designed to help businesses generate quality B2B leads. One of their standout features is contact and company search data.
With ZoomInfo, you can:
- Get the direct numbers of decision-makers.
- View professional profiles to ensure you’re dealing with key decision-makers.
- See the contact info for the entire buying committee.
- Use a B2B search engine to find targeted leads.
- Track contacts and more.
ZoomInfo offers a free trial, too, so you can take their platform for a test drive.
Apollo has more than one million users across the globe. Their customer base includes the likes of DocuSign, Stripe and Autodesk. Why? Because they offer access to quality data that includes:
- More than 150 million verified mobile numbers and emails
They refresh their data regularly and offer an all-in-one platform that integrates with popular sales engagement tools and CRMs.
Part of what makes Apollo such a great option is that you can automate workflows and engage with these key decision-makers automatically. You also gain insights that may make it easier to start building relationships with your contacts.
Uplead is a comprehensive tool that makes it easy to build prospecting lists using data that’s 95% accurate. The platform is trusted by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Dropbox and other big names in business.
With Uplead, you can search for business phone numbers using 50+ search filters to find targeted leads. You can also view:
- The technologies decision-makers are using
- Verify email addresses
- Identify customers who are already in the market for your product or service
Uplead has a variety of features and tools. You can get your first five leads for free to gauge the quality of the service.
Lusha’s platform is trusted by zendesk, Google, aircall and other big names in tech. Their platform makes it easy to generate lists of prospects in one go. Build lists and use advanced filters to find your ideal customers.
Lusha’s data is clean and accurate, making it a highly useful tool for finding business phone numbers of key prospects. They even have a Chrome extension that makes it easy to find contact information in seconds.
With Seamless, you can find the business phone numbers of prospects quickly and easily. More than 300,000 companies use the platform to find contact information and grow their businesses.
Seamless markets itself as a real-time search engine for B2B leads. In 2021, they had more than 1.9 billion verified contact records. They also have a Chrome extension that makes it easy to grab cell phone numbers, emails and more.
These are some of the top platforms used to buy business phone numbers. One advantage of going this route is that you also gain access to other tools to build and manage relationships with the leads you generate.
Other business phone number providers
Custom Lists Via Upwork
Each of the above-listed platforms is feature-reach with different options. By utilizing a freelance website like Upwork or Fiverr, businesses can find individuals who are skilled in specific platforms to cultivate robust, custom phone number lists. This can save you the time of learning a new platform and your sales team the time it takes to dig and prospect for numbers.
Vetted Phone Number Search
A vetted phone number list goes beyond the simple collection of phone numbers that may or may not lead to the correct contact. With a vetted number search, the vetting process will identify correct numbers so that you and your team don’t waste time calling lines no one answers.
Search Phone Numbers Via Company Website & Online Directories
Searching for phone numbers on the company website, online directory, or in the Yellow Pages is still a viable way to make contacts. However, it’s important to recognize the right opportunities for this. For example, a large corporation is unlikely to have a direct line through to their upper level executives.
Use a Free Chrome Extension for Business Phone Numbers
Web browsers have become multi-use tools thanks to the ability to download extensions and add-ons to extend their functionality.
Google Chrome is used by over 2 billion people, and there are many great free extensions that can help you find phone numbers in just a few clicks. Some of the extensions that you’ll want to look at and consider trying include:
- SignalHire is one of the leading plugins and is designed to help you find both phone numbers and email addresses. The platform can be used on all of the most popular social media networks to find phone numbers, including: Facebook, GitHub, LinkedIn and GitHub, to name a few. Since the tool is developed for recruiters, you can even verify the business’ number and enjoy more robust features, too.
- Seekout is a massive database with a Chrome extension that offers a lot of functionality, but there is also a paid version if you need to find a phone number for business owners or stakeholders.
- Apollo.io is another option for finding both business numbers and email addresses. The tool is intelligent, with workflows built into the platform to make it easier to analyze, improve and execute searches within minutes.
These are just a few of the many extensions you’ll find for Google Chrome that can help you find business phone numbers.
Easy Tips for Finding Business Phone Numbers
Sometimes, even with the best plugins, you will have a hard time finding a business’ phone number. Additional methods of locating numbers for businesses include:
Email Signature
Send an email to the business. If the business replies, you can always search the bottom of the reply for the signature. The signature should have a lot of information listed, such as:
- Phone number
- Name
- More
If you can’t find the email address, there are a lot of additional tips in this article that will help you find email addresses for the business.
Call the Business and Ask for the Contact’s Phone Number
If you’re trying to find a specific person’s number at a business, you can always:
- Call the business
- Ask for the contact
The business will be able to help you find business phone numbers for key employees, such as the head of marketing or sales. You can often go on LinkedIn and track down the right stakeholder at the business who you would like to speak with.
Creative Ways for Getting a Business Phone Number
If you need other creative methods to find phone numbers, you’ll find numerous options in this section that may meet your needs.
Email Them on a Holiday
When businesses are closed, they often have an automatic response, which will have their contact number listed. One trick to get a business’ number is to try and mail them on major holidays.
You may want to:
- Mail multiple people at the business
- Opt to mail them any time it’s not a business hour
If you try this method and it doesn’t work for you, try one of the other methods in this article.
Tell the Operator You Lost Your Prospect’s Phone Number (Might Be Unethical)
If you need to find a phone number for business stakeholders and have been unable to track their number down, you may want to consider calling the main business number. Initially, ask for the person’s number and see if the operator or secretary would be willing to transfer the call.
There may be times when the operator declines to provide the number.
One method to try and circumvent a declined request for the stakeholder’s number is to call on a different day and mention that you lost the contact’s number. This option is certainly teetering on the side of being unethical, but it is an option to consider.
Check Their Social Accounts for Their Business Phone Number
Businesses rely on social media to help promote their entity and engage with consumers. If you haven’t done so already, you need to try and find business phone numbers on:
LinkedIn is a social media network for business professionals. You’ll want to:
- Search the business name on the platform
- Find the company page and go to it
- Look through the “About” section for the business
The About section of the page may have information about the company, such as its website, address and even phone number. If you’re trying to track down a certain professional that works for the business, you may find them using the same method above.
Facebook is the next platform to check, and many businesses will have their own Facebook Page with information listed. Follow these steps to find phone numbers for the business:
- Log into your Facebook account
- Click on the search icon
- Type in the business’ name
- Visit their Facebook Page
Many businesses will have a detailed About section, which will include the company’s website address, physical address and telephone number.
If the business has chat enabled, you can even ask for their number in chat.
Instagram may have fewer businesses than Facebook, but a lot of owners are also maintaining a social media presence on the platform. If you have Instagram, search for the business and see if they have their number listed.
Some businesses even have a “call” button on their page to make it easier to call them.
If the business does have an Instagram account and doesn’t list its number, you can send them a message and ask for it. Any active business should be more than happy to provide their contact information to potential customers or clients.
Old School Ways to Find Business Phone Numbers
When the advanced methods to find phone numbers don’t yield results, the old school methods will often work very well. Three main methods to locate business numbers include:
WhoIs
Businesses with a website will have their own “WhoIs” listing, and you may or may not have the opportunity to find the business number using this method. The first step is to do the following:
- Go to https://lookup.icann.org/en
- Type in the business’ website address
- Search through the contact information listed
Many businesses will use a third-party to block their information from being listed as the registrant of the website. However, you may get lucky and find the information on the page. This is the individual or business that registered the company’s domain name.
WhitePages
WhitePages is a massive directory that was started in 1997, and it is filled with the contact information for businesses and people. You’ll want to go to the website’s main page and change the search from “People” to “Business.”
You’ll need to supply the following information:
- Name of the business
- City, state or zip code
If you have this information, you may enter in the search information and wait for the results to show. When the results do show you’ll need to click on “show details” and then wait to see what information is available.
You should find a phone number and address listed, so you can call the business or go to their physical location if you’re unable to find their phone number.
Look for Press Releases
Press releases were once the most popular way for businesses to announce their opening, new products or services and even alert potential customers to key changes to the business. Google will help you find press releases.
You can begin your search by:
- Going to Google.com
- Searching the company name + “press release”
The “+” and “press release” are both crucial elements in your search to help you narrow the results to only those that may be relevant.
When scouring the results on Google, look for news announcements. The traditional way to write a press release includes putting the business’ information or the media contact’s name at the end of the release.
The information will often lead you to the right phone number or the right individual that knows the number. If the press release method doesn’t work for you, it may be time to hire someone else to find the phone number for you.
Professionals have the tools and resources to find the business number for you.
Use Upwork and Fiverr For Business Phone Numbers
There are many great tools out there to help you find business phone numbers. But what if you’re short on time and simply can’t add this to your to-do list?
Hiring a freelancer or independent contractor through Fiverr or Upwork is a great option. Both of these platforms allow you to search and view profiles for individuals offering B2B sales prospecting services.
Hiring an independent contractor will:
- Save you time
- Save you money
- Help you fill your list with accurate data
Working through a trusted platform like Upwork or Fiverr will also give you peace of mind that the work will be completed on time and be of the quality you expect. If the results don’t meet your standards, you have recourse.
If you decide to go this route:
- Check reviews from other buyers. If the seller isn’t meeting expectations, buyers will certainly leave poor reviews.
- Make sure that you understand exactly what you’re getting with the service. Ask questions to clarify.
- Check to see what tools are being used.
- See how long the seller has been in business or how much experience they have with finding business phone numbers.
Hiring an independent contractor can save you a lot of time and ultimately, money. Finding the right individual is key, so take your time and test out different offerings until you find the right one.
Summarizing How to Find Phone Numbers for Sales Prospecting
These are some of the easiest and most effective ways to find phone numbers of decision-makers at your targeted companies.
Buying phone numbers is the simplest way to get your hands on this information, although it comes at a higher cost compared to other options on this list. Checking social accounts, email signatures and calling directly to ask for their phone number can also be effective ways to get the information you need.
