Where Candidate Accounts Come From

Long list first, short list later

A target account list is built in two passes. The first pass collects every company that might belong: the long list. The second pass removes knock-outs, scores what is left and caps the list at what your team can work.

This lesson is only the first pass. The rule for now is to be generous about which companies go on, and strict about recording why.

How long should the long list be? Three to five times the number of accounts you can work is a practical range. If two people can each work 25 accounts properly, aim for 150 to 250 candidates. Fewer leaves you no room to be selective. Many more and nobody will score them carefully.

The seven sources

Work through them in this order. The early ones give better accounts with less effort.

1. Look-alikes of your best customers. Take the three to five customers you would most like to clone: profitable, quick to buy, still with you. Write down what they share (sub-vertical, size, systems, the event that made them buy). Then list the companies that share it: their direct competitors, the same kind of business in the next region, others in the same trade association.

2. Your own history. Open the CRM and pull lost deals where the reason was timing or budget, former customers who left on good terms, and proposals that never got a decision. These companies already know you. Something may have changed.

3. Where your champions went. List the people who bought from you or argued for you inside a customer. Check where each one works today. A champion in a new company is the warmest route into a new account you will find.

4. Companies already showing interest. Look at who has enquired, attended an event, downloaded something or replied to anything in the last year. Group the people by company. Three people from one company is a signal even if none of them filled in a contact form.

5. Your customers' neighbours. Ask your customers and partners who they would expect to have the same problem: their suppliers, their customers, their peers. Ask your delivery team the same question. They often know a sector better than sales does.

6. Public lists in your niche. Trade association members, exhibitors at the sector's main event, award shortlists, regulator registers, rankings by size in a region. These are free, current and already filtered by industry.

7. Databases and search tools. Use a company database or LinkedIn's company search last, to fill gaps, with filters taken from source 1. A database is good at finding more companies like a pattern you already have. It is poor at telling you what the pattern should be.

One more source sits outside the seven: the names your CEO or board already want. Put them on the long list like any other and let the scoring decide. A wished-for logo that scores badly is a useful conversation to have early.

What to record for each candidate

Keep it to one row per company. You will add detail later only for accounts that survive.

Two housekeeping rules save hours later. Decide whether your account is the group or the business unit, and apply it the same way throughout. And remove duplicates as you go: the same company will arrive from three sources under three spellings.

What a healthy long list looks like

Count the rows by source when you finish. If more than half came from a database, go back to sources 1 to 5. Those rows carry a reason to talk, and the database rows do not.

Read ten rows at random. For each one, can you say in a sentence why this company and not its neighbour? If the "why it is here" column is empty or says "fits ICP", the list is a lead list with a new name.

Finally, check the spread. A list that is all household names will be slow and crowded with competitors. A list with none may be too small to matter. A mix is normal.