How to find leads for your business
To find useful leads, define your ideal customer, choose a source that reveals that audience and verify each prospect before outreach. B2B teams can combine referrals, inbound enquiries, public business research and recent formation records. The best source depends on who you sell to and what you need to know.
Formations Feed · Reviewed October 3, 2026
Define what “a lead” means in your process
A business name in a file is a prospect record. A business that fits your market is a suitable account. A relevant person who expresses interest can become a lead or opportunity under your sales process. Keeping these stages separate helps you compare sources honestly.
Write down the business models, locations and problems your offer supports. Decide what facts you need to verify before contacting someone: operating activity, service area, current website, the relevant role or a particular workflow.
Compare sources by the job they do
| Source | What it helps you find | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Referrals and introductions | Businesses connected to people who know your work. | Whether the introduction matches your offer and the prospect wants a conversation. |
| Inbound enquiries | People responding to your content, advertising or service pages. | The actual need, timing, contact and suitability. |
| Public websites and directories | Operating businesses in a particular market. | Current identity, activity, address and the relevance of contact details. |
| General B2B prospecting platforms | Companies and contacts using the platform’s available search fields. | Freshness, coverage, field meanings and fit for your target market. |
| New-business lists and formation feeds | Recent business events or registrations, depending on the source. | Which event is included, filing versus collection date, actual delivery cadence and contact availability. |
A large directory can be useful for established-company research. A formation feed is useful when a recent registration is relevant to your prospecting strategy. Neither replaces qualification.
When Formations Feed is a useful source
Use Formations Feed when you sell to businesses and want recurring research opportunities from recent state-registry filings. Select the states you need, confirm availability and receive the agreed file delivery. Available phone and email can help research, while entity identifiers, roles and addresses help you understand the record.
It is particularly relevant to website providers, accounting practices, suppliers and other B2B service teams. It is not a list of every new business, a verified ownership directory or a guarantee that an entity needs your service.
Turn a delivered file into a research queue
- Check the source event. Review entity type, jurisdiction and filing date. A foreign registration can involve an existing business; not every registration is a newly operating company.
- Preserve identity. Keep the source entity ID and state alongside the business name. Similar names can belong to different companies.
- Research operations. Find the trading name, website, public services and operating location. Keep uncertain matches out of outreach until resolved.
- Assess fit. Record the observed reason your offer may help. Do not infer employee count, budget or an opening date from the filing.
- Check the contact. Distinguish agents, organisers, managers and business contacts. Verify relevance before using an appended phone or email.
- Use your existing workflow. Import into a staging spreadsheet or compatible CRM, deduplicate and retain source notes. Respect exclusions and prior contact preferences.
Illustrative example: a website provider
A designer reviews a recent entity, researches its trading name and finds a public site. The site already looks professional, but the mobile enquiry form is difficult to locate. The designer checks the business identity and proposes a limited improvement. The prospect is qualified through the website research, not because its formation date proves it needs a new site.
What to ask before choosing a lead source
- Which businesses and events are included?
- Are dates filing dates, publication dates or delivery dates?
- Which selected states can actually be delivered now?
- What share of fields is missing in a current sample?
- Are phone and email from filings or appended matches?
- What delivery frequency and licence terms apply?
- Can your team use the file without relying on an unavailable integration?
These questions are more useful than choosing solely by headline volume. The data page explains fields, the delivery page explains options and the comparison guide explains alternatives.
Measure what happens after discovery
Keep separate counts for raw records, researched businesses, suitable prospects, contacts checked, conversations and opportunities. Review which source produced the audience you can serve. A busy filing day may produce few suitable prospects for a narrow offer, while a smaller relevant cohort may be more useful.
Once you see what fits, adjust your territory, research criteria or offer. For expressed purchase interest and timing, see how to find high-intent B2B prospects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to find new leads for my company?
Start with your audience and the facts needed to qualify it. Use referrals or inbound enquiries for expressed interest, and appropriate research sources for outbound discovery. A formation feed fits when recent registrations matter to your B2B offer.
Are phone and email included?
Available contact details may be supplied, but availability varies by record and source. Missing fields remain missing, and contact matching does not establish a decision-maker or guaranteed reachability.
Can I target only my local area?
State selection narrows the filing jurisdiction. Verify operating locations and use appropriate address fields in your own research; state registration is not proof of local operations.
Keep exploring
See whether the feed fits your market.
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