How To Find-Decision Makers In A Company: 9 Tools for 2024

If you find decision-makers in a company, you’re all set to customize your pitch successfully to hit all the right notes with these crucial contacts.

So, you wouldn’t want to miss this step in your lead-generation and outreach campaigns.

Follow this guide to discover 9 tools for finding the right decision-maker in a company and nailing the LinkedIn lead-generation process.

1. LinkedIn Free Search Engine
2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
3. Appolo
4. Clearbit Prospector
5. Zoominfo
6. Lusha
7. Lemlist
8. Uplead
9. LeadIQ

This guide is perfect for startup founders, c-level executives, sales professionals, or SDRs.

Let’s get into it.

1. LinkedIn Free Search Engine

Do you need to pinpoint the key players within a company who are after the final decision?

With LinkedIn’s impressive roster of over 750 million professionals, LinkedIn’s free search engine is your go-to tool.

Here are the steps for identifying key decision-maker personas, ideal customers, company names, industries, or regions.

1. Go to LinkedIn and sign into your account.

2. Put the business name into the search bar at the top and launch your search.

3. Go to the “People” tab within the search results to see the list of employees linked to the company.

4. Refine the filters-zone in on location, department, and status.

Want to target marketing decision-makers?

Filter on “marketing” and choose the rank to “director,” “vice president,” or beyond.

5. Dive into profiles that match.

Look for buying signals, view their interactions, and leverage mutual connections for deeper insights.

6. Got your decision maker in sight?

Send a connection invite or use tools like Lusha or Clearbit Connect, which we’ll see soon, to get emails and phone numbers.

LinkedIn’s free search makes it easy to find different types of decision-makers in your industry that your sales teams will appreciate.

However, be aware of monthly search limits, varying data accuracy, and unpredictable responses from potential contacts.

2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Ready to kick your LinkedIn game up a notch?

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the essential tool you need to enhance your professional efforts.

It helps you:

• Find exclusive insights,
• Unlock personalized suggestions, buyer signals, and contact information that you won’t find on LinkedIn’s regular pages.

But there is one problem.

It’s impossible to export leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

That’s why we’ve created Evaboot.

Here’s your quick tutorial for finding decision-makers on LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

1. Head to the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and sign in.

Choose the plan—Professional, Team, or Enterprise—to match your career needs and budget.

2. Hit the homepage, press the “Search” icon in the top left, and choose your path—“Lead Filter” or “Account Filter”—depending on whether you’re targeting individuals or companies.

3. Use the filters on the left to tailor your search, choosing specifics like industry, company size, role, and so on.

Want marketing executives in the tech world?

Try searching for titles with specific keywords, Boolean searches, and eliminating irrelevant results to get more results (“marketing director” OR “marketing manager” OR “CMO”) AND industry: “computer software”.

4. Explore your search results on the right and make sure they’re what you’re looking for.

Sort by relevance, how closely you’re connected, or new faces on LinkedIn.

Dive into each prospect’s world, from career moves to mutual and common connections, and see their latest power moves by checking their LinkedIn profiles.

5. Once you’ve identified your heads, you can tag them as leads and send an InMail.

You also can use third-party ninja moves with tools like Lusha or Clearbit Connect to snag those emails and digits.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is your golden ticket to the land of decision-makers across any industry, making your search game sharp and efficient.

3. Apollo

Looking to connect with key players in any corporate arena?

Say hello to Apollo, your new sales acceleration sidekick.

This powerhouse equips you to track down, verify, and engage with potential clients in wide-ranging fields and niches.

Consider Apollo your secret weapon for gaining insights, analyzing trends, and incorporating automation to refine your sales strategy.

Here’s how to use Apollo to find top-tier decision-makers:

1. Enter Apollo’s website and pick a free trial or a subscription that fits your needs and wallet.

2. Enter the Search tab, click the List tab, and hit “Create a New List”.

3. Launch into your search with the toolbar up top, dialing in specifics like company intel, sector, locality, workforce size, revenue stacks, and more for laser-focused outcomes.

Choose the ideal contacts with keywords and filters.

4. Review displayed targets to ensure they’re on the right track, with the ability to sort by relevance, confirmation status, or fresh faces.

Comprehensive profiles reveal full name, job title, company affiliation, email, numbers, and social links.

5. Once you’ve pinpointed your A-list decision makers, you can save them to a list, a CSV, or an email blast.

P.S. here is you can learn more about differences between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Apollo, to decide which one works best for you.

4. Clearbit Prospector

If you’re hunting for power players inside big companies, Clearbit Prospector is your go-to weapon.

This powerful tool goes beyond finding and confirming emails and phone numbers.

Here’s how to use Clearbit:

1. Hit up the Clearbit Prospector website to kick things off with a no-cost trial, or pick a paid plan that slots into your plans and pocket.

Also up for grabs is the Clearbit browser extension for Chrome, adding even more ease to your experience.

2. With your platform of choice ready, pinpoint the business you’re after.

3. Click on the Clearbit widget in the top right corner of your browser. You’ll see the contact details of the people who work there.

You’ll find out what industry they’re in, how many people are in their crew, how much money they’re raking in, and where to find their official digital digs.

4. Want to get super-specific in your people search?

Slap on filters for roles, seniority, title, and which part of the company they haunt.

5. Spotted the decision-maker you want to buzz?

You can take their email and digits or send an email assault using Clearbit’s tailor-made blueprints and smart sending tools.

5. Zoominfo

More than a lead generation tool, Zoominfo vets contact information, ensuring you reach decision-makers accurately.

It also gives you dynamic insights, analytics, and automated features to elevate your sales tactics.

Ready to leverage the power of Zoominfo to hone in on those crucial contacts?

1. Start by surfing Zoominfo and choosing a free trial or a paid subscription that fits your budget and goals.

The best part?

Integration with your existing CRM, email, and workflows is a breeze.

2. Navigate to your dashboard and hit the “Search” icon, top-left, deciding if your quest is for “Contacts” (the people) or “Companies” (bigger fish).

3. Refine your search with filters such as job titles, current roles, industry, team size, locations, and more.

4. Examine the results. Sort the prospects by how recent, relevant, or verified they are.

You’ll get the full picture—names, positions, emails, digits, and even their social footprint.

5. When you’ve spotted your ideal buyer persona or industry influencers you’re eager to engage, you can bookmark them and export their details in a CSV.

6. Lusha

Need a fast and simple way to concentrate on the big shots of any business?

Don’t look further because Lusha makes it a breeze.

This powerhouse app cuts through the clutter, serving swift access to and confirmation of email addresses and phone numbers for your next hot leads on LinkedIn, Twitter, or anywhere else online.

With Lusha, you don’t just score contacts; you get the lowdown with nifty insights, data crunching, and smooth automation that could take your sales game to the next level.

Here’s the guide to make Lusha work its magic for you:

1. Create a free Lusha trial account or choose a package that fits your wallet’s size and needs.

You might want to slap that Lusha extension onto your Chrome or Firefox for extra ease in browsing.

2. Dive into your target’s profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, or any other internet haunt.

Use the search and features to narrow your quarry by details, like what industry they’re rocking, their business, their rank, and how high up the ladder they’ve climbed.

3. Give that Lusha badge a click up in the corner of your browser to unveil your prospect’s contact credentials.

4. Got the name of the decision-maker?

It’s go-time.

Pin that email and phone number, or bypass the scribbling and kick off an email blitz directly from Lusha with pre-baked templates and autopilot goodness.

7. Lemlist

Looking to zero in on the big fish of the corporate sea and reel them in?

Lemlist got you with its killer combo of automated, personalized email outreach.

This tool provides data, insights, and automated enhancements to improve your sales efforts by going beyond a single function to create customized campaigns.

Here’s how you harness Lemlist to track down those top dogs:

1. Kick-off by scooting over to Lemlist.

Connect by picking between a free trial or going full monthly with a paid tour.

Then, link it up with your CRM and other tools in a snap.

2. Once you’re the captain of your dashboard, eye the “Campaigns” tab and lock onto “Create a campaign“; it’s go-time.

3. Click “Add leads,” then angle for either “Import from CSV” or “Import from API.”

If you’re old-school, tag those leads in by hand.

Lemlist eagerly adapts CSV or API formats if you’re importing leads.

4. Next, Lemlist actively identifies and examines key individuals within your target companies, gathering comprehensive details ranging from names to social media activity.

5. With your decision-maker directory, get down with email personalization.

Jazz it up with dynamic elements, splashy visuals, and emojis.

Fine-tune scheduling and follow-ups, and set triggers to send your emails automatically.

6. Time to take action!

Click the “Start campaign” button and watch as your emails are delivered directly to the inboxes of key decision-makers.

Lemlist provides real-time updates to inform you of your campaign’s performance, including details on email opens, clicks, engagement, and any problems that may have occurred.

8. Uplead

Keen on effortlessly snagging the decision-maker’s contact info minus the weighty price tag?

Look no further—Uplead‘s got your back.

This powerhouse tool isn’t just about fishing out legit emails and digits across the board; it’s a weapon for gaining essential insights, actionable analytics, and powerhouse automation to skyrocket your sales process.

Here are the steps to tap into Uplead for zeroing in on the big guns:

1. Go to the Uplead website, grab a free trial, or pick a pricing plan that syncs your aims and budget.

Pro tip: go for the Uplead Chrome extension for smooth sailing.

2. Cruise over to any target company’s digital digs.

Use Uplead‘s search tools to filter by industry, brand, title, and how high up the ladder you want to go to home in on your prey.

3. Tap the Uplead symbol on the top-right corner of Chrome—and, voilà, unveil the inner circle’s contacts.

Get the lowdown on the industry, employee count, and geolocation.

4. Go full ninja with advanced filters. Search by gig, rank, title, department—you name it.

5. Once you’ve got the decision-maker in your crosshairs, it’s go-time.

Lift their email and buzzer, or pull the trigger on an email crusade with Uplead’s slick, pre-fab templates and auto-magic tricks.

9. LeadIQ

Chasing down legit business decision-makers?

Look no further. LeadIQ delivers a slick and intuitive platform for scraping contact details, giving your B2B sales game some serious muscle.

We’re talking about a primo solution that finds and authenticates emails and phone digits from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or any web page.

LeadIQ provides killer insights, analytics, and advanced automation tools that enhance your sales strategy.

So, before you start cold calling or sending personalized cold emails to your prospects on Gmail, let’s see what offers LeadIQ to engage key players in decision-making and establish points-of-contact.

1. Go to the LeadIQ website and select a free trial or a subscription that fits your goals and budget.

Oh, and snag the LeadIQ extension for Chrome while you’re at it.

2. Dive into LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or any website you choose to lock onto the profile of the person you’re itching to reach.

Deploy LeadIQ’s top-shelf search and filter tech to narrow your search by industry, company, job title, etc.

3. Click the LeadIQ icon at the top right corner of your browser and boom.

You have your lead’s contact information and valuable information like industry details, business size, revenue, and website.

4. Once you identify a key decision-maker, immediately get their email and phone number or save their details to a LeadIQ list for future reference.

5. Organize your new contacts, sync them with your CRM, and send emails that refer to their pain points using LeadIQ’s templating and automation.

Conclusion

We’ve explored how to use LinkedIn’s advanced search , LinkedIn Sales Navigator , and 7 other tools to find decision-makers in a company:

• Appolo
• Zoominfo
• Lusha
• Clearbit
• Lemlist
• Uplead
• LeadIQ

Now, it’s up to you to review them all and see which one best suits your outreach campaigns.

FAQ

Who are the decision-makers in a company?

Decision makers in an organization are the gatekeepers who have the authority to make strategic purchasing decisions, such as which products to buy and at what price.

In B2B organizations, these are typically C-level executives such as the CEO, COO, CMO, or President, whose decisions affect the operations of their departments.

Reaching the B2B buying committee directly can streamline your sales process.

How to find decision-makers in an organization?

Here are 5 ways to find decision-makers in an organization (manually and with intelligence):

1. Enhance your search using these nine effective sales intelligence tools:

• LinkedIn Free Search Engine
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Apollo
• Clearbit Prospector
• ZoomInfo
• Lusha
• Lemlist
• UpLead
• LeadIQ

2. Explore the company website for relevant contacts.

3. Research key personnel on LinkedIn.

4. Track job changes that may indicate new decision makers. You can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator alerts.

5. Use intent data to identify interested decision makers.

How to reach B2B decision makers?

To effectively reach B2B decision makers, follow these steps:

1. Research your prospects. Creating buyer personas is critical to your marketing strategy.
2. Narrow your target accounts.
3. Identify the right decision maker within each target account.
4. Develop a strategic marketing approach tailored to reach these key contacts.
5. Use bottom-up techniques to engage multiple levels of the organization.

What kind of qualifying questions identify decision makers?

Even if a lead has the “title” of a decision-maker and fits your ideal customer profile, there is a slight chance that he/she may not be the decision maker for your company.

Qualifying questions are critical to understanding a lead’s needs and identifying the right contact to close the sale.

Here are some right questions that can help salespeople identify company decision makers:

1. Who is the end user for this product?
2. Besides you, who else is going to be involved in deciding how to use it?
3. Are you the sole decision maker, or is there a committee involved?
4. What is the typical buying process for a product in this category?
5. What other departments would regularly utilize the item?
6. Who else could I explain this solution to?
7. Who else might have a say in the final purchase decision?

These questions help clarify the decision-making process and identify all the stakeholders involved in a purchase.

Disclosure

This content was partly written by AI (ChatGPT 4), I added my own perspective, fact-checked it and made sure it is helpful for you.