Lead generation is one of the primary tasks for any marketing division. Often, making your pitch over an email can bring the results you hope for. However, a personal phone call could be an even better way to make your offer.
The trick is, finding someone’s phone number is not that easy. The more information people handle every day, the more they value their personal space. And, while many email addresses are made public, phone numbers are a different matter entirely. On the bright side, professional tools can quickly find anyone’s contact information for your lead research. Besides, marketers can sometimes get lucky and find the info they need for free. Below, we’ll list the top solutions — both free and paid ones — for getting virtually anyone’s phone numbers.
Try it for free first
When lead generation is not part of your daily routine, it is wiser to start your phone search with free tools. The top ones go as follows.
Head straight to Google
If you know the full name of the person you are about to contact, googling their phone number is an obvious start. Simple as it may seem, this approach is not always effective. You may get lucky if you find a personal or professional website, though. Then, you can just head to their contact section and, hopefully, see something more than an automated contact form. However, if the person you want to reach out does not maintain a website, coming across their phone number online is next to impossible.
Scan social media networks
One more free and simple solution is to browse social media sites. A lot of Facebook users make their phone numbers public. LinkedIn could be another great source of information. Most people have resumes in their LinkedIn accounts, and these files contain comprehensive contact details, from email and phone number to mailing address. Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are usually not so informative, but you should still give any network you come across a shot.
Try free phone lookup services
Websites like AeroLeads and ZoomInfo can also prove pretty helpful. They give markets a chance to quickly access all publicly available contact info without googling every person manually. However, you should keep in mind that such tools can provide public company contacts, but hardly ever private phone numbers and emails.
Save time with professional paid tools
While free search for a phone number does not take too much time, it does not always bring the results you need. So, if generating leads is part of your daily routine, investing in professional software is a better solution. After all, both time and effort are money. Take a look at our handpicked list of professional tools that can help find virtually anyone’s contact details online.
SignalHire
SignalHire is a large recruiting database of contacts that can be searched by name, industry, skillset, etc. Even though this database was originally developed for recruiters, it can become a powerful tool in your lead generation. One of the best things about this service is that it has a browser plugin, compatible with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It acts as a powerful overlay on top of LinkedIn profiles and gets you anyone’s contact details in a click, without the need to switch tabs.
This supplies marketers with valid emails, phone numbers, and links to personal social media accounts. It also supports bulk search within their 400+ million database and allows exporting all data into CSV files. When looking for a tool with flexible prices and impressive capabilities, SignalHire is one of the undeniable leaders.
AeroLeads
AeroLeads is very similar to SignalHire. It is a handy Chrome extension that works with LinkedIn, AngelList, and CrunchBase. Impressive as it sounds, there is one major drawback — no bulk search. All searches have to be conducted manually, and while you have a chance to get anyone’s contact details in a click, you cannot compile comprehensive contact lists. So, this tool is great for personalized contact search but is not very effective when it comes to bulk search automation.
LeadIQ
LeadIQ is another example of a carefully crafted tool designed for effective professional activity. Just like SignalHire, it allows browsing its external database for bulk search and exporting contacts. It also has a handy extension for more individualized contact search over social media. Their database has around 100+ million contacts, which is not the largest number out there, but still quite impressive — especially if you consider their high accuracy rate.
Still, the biggest drawback of this tool is its pricing. Marketers get only 25 searches for $75, which is way higher than the market average. Besides, it does not have a reverse phone lookup, which is quite strange for such a high subscription cost.
Of course, there are more paid databases and contact lookup tools that can find both public and private phone numbers. Above, we briefly described only the quickest and most effective solutions that can help with lead generation. A final word of advice would be not to rely on any of them solely, especially when dealing with free lookup tools. A combination of the above suggestions, as well as staying informed of the latest industry trends, is a more effective means of lead generation.
