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How Do You Get the Owner's Name?

by donblack11
22 replies
Just calling in asking for the owner's name doesn't work. Most just say we don't reveal this information.

What's the best way to get ahold of the owner's name so I can harvest my own leads?

Manta leads are often out of date. I want to call in to verify.

Thanks.
#owner
  • Profile picture of the author barbling
    Originally Posted by donblack11 View Post

    Just calling in asking for the owner's name doesn't work. Most just say we don't reveal this information.

    What's the best way to get ahold of the owner's name so I can harvest my own leads?

    Manta leads are often out of date. I want to call in to verify.

    Thanks.
    Best place for telephone names sourcing:

    MagicMethod Phone Sourcing - A place to learn about telephone names sourcing.
    TechTrak - Telephone Names Sourcing Services and Education - 513.899.9628

    Your local chamber of commerce can also be useful:

    Chamber of Commerce - Small Business Services and Business Directory

    You can find direct member lists and names for all the Chamber of Commerces in the states.

    Hope that helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
    You can check out linkedin and/or manta.com. There's over 200 million business people on these networks.
    Alternatively you can do a 2 call strategy. Call and say you have a free report/video etc for the head of marketing...who would be the right person to send it to? They'll usually give you the name of the owner/president/marketing director. Then cal back the next day and ask for that person by name.

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author skippicks
    Originally Posted by donblack11 View Post

    Just calling in asking for the owner's name doesn't work. Most just say we don't reveal this information.

    What's the best way to get ahold of the owner's name so I can harvest my own leads?

    Manta leads are often out of date. I want to call in to verify.

    Thanks.
    The owner is NOT always the right person to talk to..It depends on
    what you're selling and the make-up of the company.

    If you're selling advertising and the company has a marketing director then that will be the person you will need to speak with. Even if you have the owner's name they will turn you over to their marketing director.

    The best way ( that I know of) to get the right person to talk to is to ask the following question of whoever answers the phone.

    Could you tell me the name of the person responsible for your advertising?

    By asking that question you sound like you have a problem with an advertisment of theirs and very few office workers want to handle an irate customer. They will give you the right persons name and/or transfer you to them.

    If it is the owner answering the phone then you just give them your script.

    And if you do not want to be transfered to talk to the right person at that moment (if you are mailing a sales letter first) then just let them know that is why you want the name. To address it to the proper person.

    Best of success,

    Skip Rosell
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    I believe you should always start by calling at the top.

    Who else can reallocate resources and change the plan?

    Everyone else is an empowered Yes-Man or Woman. Saying No to the top dog is a potentially career-limiting move. Have the top person refer you down to the appropriate individual if they want; that person will then take your call with much more interest because it came from the boss. The boss must like you, if they forwarded your call!
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
      Originally Posted by kaniganj View Post

      I believe you should always start by calling at the top.

      Who else can reallocate resources and change the plan?

      Everyone else is an empowered Yes-Man or Woman. Saying No to the top dog is a potentially career-limiting move. Have the top person refer you down to the appropriate individual if they want; that person will then take your call with much more interest because it came from the boss. The boss must like you, if they forwarded your call!
      I'm not sure I agree with that for two reasons.

      1. Many people will just refer you to the right person because they don't want to waste their time deciding if you are worth it or not. They hired someone to make those decisions for the company. This is what my boss does when he gets a cold call from an SEO company. He simply puts them on hold and pages for me to pick up the line.

      2. As an owner or manager I do not want to be bothered by something I have delegated. If I found out you on purpose bypassed the person I put in place to handle it and the call got to me it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

      2a. This often leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the person you should be contacting as well. As the boss is mad they got contacted. "Why didn't you handle this Aaron? Why did they call me?"

      So by purposely bypassing the correct person you may in fact be shooting yourself in the foot. I've seen customers do this a lot with a problem even. They bypass the people who would help them and because they piss off the store manager the people below him are pissed and they don't wanna help the customer. In fact they rightly or wrongly assume the customer is a PITA and at that point don't care if they lose them.

      And this is a reaction to a customer. How do you think people will handle a cold caller or others who they already have a negative view of?

      If you researched a company well enough to find out there is a marketing director then that is who you contact.

      Never go down the line you wanna go up the line. You get a lower employee on your side he will be selling you to his superiors. Less work for you in the long run. But bypass that guy and when the boss asks he will not be on your side.

      Biggest thing consultants can learn is that very few people at the top actually make decisions. They have advisors and such below them that do it. You get the right person below them and you are golden. Bypass that person and you could be selling $1000 gold coins for $1 and you may not close the sale.
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    • Profile picture of the author RRG
      Originally Posted by kaniganj View Post

      I believe you should always start by calling at the top.

      Who else can reallocate resources and change the plan?

      Everyone else is an empowered Yes-Man or Woman. Saying No to the top dog is a potentially career-limiting move. Have the top person refer you down to the appropriate individual if they want; that person will then take your call with much more interest because it came from the boss. The boss must like you, if they forwarded your call!
      And this is why you get paid the big bucks.

      Seriously, I always call to get the owner's name before I make further contact. Very rarely does anyone refuse. Remember, you're not calling to try to get the owner on the phone to sell him. You're just asking for his name.

      Different tactics you can use to get the name:

      "I want to mail him something."

      "I want to send him a letter."

      "I want to send him a card."

      "I want to send him a package."

      In a lot of cases, you will get the name just by asking, without further explanation.
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  • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
    Originally Posted by donblack11 View Post

    Just calling in asking for the owner's name doesn't work. Most just say we don't reveal this information.

    What's the best way to get ahold of the owner's name so I can harvest my own leads?

    Manta leads are often out of date. I want to call in to verify.

    Thanks.
    Manta and Linkedin are fine as they go. However, if you are dealing strictly at a local level, they may be out of date or simply don't have what you are looking for. The easiest way I found is a service provided by our county.

    On the business license page they have a downloadable pdf of all the businesses in our county. Not only does it list the owner but the correct phone number. I downloaded the book to my desktop for easy reference.

    If your county provides this service, you can forget all of the other services. BTW, your secreatary of state may have a similar service. We have to look up businesses by individual name in this state. It may be worth your time if you have to do the same thing because you get the biz owner and their correct phone number.

    Just my 2¢...

    P.S. Skip Rosell in the post above made an excellent suggestion. Simply ask who handles the advertising. I've done that as well and was transferred to the person.
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  • Profile picture of the author buzz1212
    Just Gooogle the telephone # and you'll find out everything, including their citations when the number is listed.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
    See if they have a website, then do a WHOIS domain name lookup and see who owns the website. This will more than likely be the business owner you're looking for.
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  • Profile picture of the author deepestblue
    Call in and say you'd like to run something by them that can make them more money. You want to send them an email with more info about it. But of course you need the owner's email. This way you can get his name as well. HTH
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  • Profile picture of the author Magnus Koenig
    I suggest that you have to work on building your own name first. Then, make people spread good information about you, there would not be something bad about making your name beautiful. This is about getting their trust by making yourself worthy. Be near your target and befriend the people around before you ask confidential info.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nbroquis
    What I do is act like a customer and say that I have an email to send out to the owner and just want to verify that the email is right and that you want to make sure to get his or her name right. It is working for me and I actually landed a client like that today. So give something like that a try. Another idea could be to call and say you want to refer someone to their business and you don't remember what the business owners name is and that you need it to have them call the owner. Just a thought for you as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author terip
    One word. Linkedin
    It's a great place to get leads, and most importantly the names of the owners of the business you are trying to target.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeff Chandler
      LinkedIn is great. You can also go to the Secretary of State's website for your state and lookup the business registration. Most have an online lookup tool to find out this information.
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  • Profile picture of the author russkampmann
    I've been on both sides of the street on this question. As a business owner, I was inundated with phone calls of this nature (perhaps a half a dozen or more a day). I NEVER accepted the calls because I was too busy, as well as not interested in hearing a sales pitch. This was whether they knew my name or not.

    Sometimes, if I received an advance post card, or someone dropped off a brochure, then followed it up with a call, I might be willing to listen for a few minutes if I had time.

    I reversed this technique when I was doing outside sales. I primarily used an initial contact (the card, letter or brochure) before I actually made the sales contact.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Milligan
    Banned
    Manta.com, is what I use.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    Originally Posted by donblack11 View Post

    Just calling in asking for the owner's name doesn't work. Most just say we don't reveal this information.

    What's the best way to get ahold of the owner's name so I can harvest my own leads?

    Manta leads are often out of date. I want to call in to verify.

    Thanks.
    #1 - You do attend every Chamber of Commerce event, right?
    #2 - You joined Kiwanis?
    #3 - Have you discovered who is the top insurance agent in your community who deal with business clients? (They know those answers, offer them some free assistance with their business for referrals.)
    #4 - You did say you bought the Chamber of Commerce's directory, right?
    #5 - Have you offered your services free to the top CPA firm in exchange for referrals? (They know those names, too.)
    #6 - Have you talked to the sales person with the local newspaper and offered them a commission on all referred sales? (They probably know those names, too.)
    #7 - Do you know who takes care of public records in your locale? Most likely those names are listed in public records when they purchased property, setup their business, etc...

    Those are a few ideas which pop to mind....
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  • Profile picture of the author D Alishouse
    Google the company and look at their website. Many, many companies list the names of their top decision makers on their websites. Then you have a name to go by when you call. Cold calling will always yield you some results, it's a matter of numbers. You can't have high expectations of every call. You may get hung up on. Some people may not want to talk to you. However, if you're offering a valuable service, I'm always pleasantly surprised at how many company owners and high ranking officers will talk to me about the opportunity I'm offering.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill D.
      As others have said, the Chamber of Commerce has worked for me (especially the online directory for my CoC).

      You might also try BNI (Business Networking International).
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  • Profile picture of the author Redefined
    My big secret resource is referenceusa.com. It is free service which gives you access to a massive amount of information about companies.

    In order to access the details however you need to have a local library card.

    Once you have your local library card visit your library's website and search the reference section and you should see a link for "Reference USA".

    This is a great free resource for drilling down and finding leads as well as who to contact for the company. You will have to buy emails if you decide you want to market that way. Phone numbers are however provided for free.

    You can filter searches on this site all the way down to number of employees and if you want results for companies that have websites.

    Pretty cool.
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  • Profile picture of the author believemarketing
    i have not read the whole thread, but here in washington state, i could search from the secretary of state's website.... there i can just search for business information, and most of the time the owner is also the registered agent.....

    and if im still not sure, i would just enter the name listed with the business name on google (example: micro marketing john doe owner), and google would return the exact information i need... say from BBB or other websites that say that jonh doe is in deed the owner of micro marketing....

    thats of course if you are on a budget... otherwise I would subscribe to a list...
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    • Profile picture of the author RRG
      Originally Posted by believemarketing View Post

      i have not read the whole thread, but here in washington state, i could search from the secretary of state's website.... there i can just search for business information, and most of the time the owner is also the registered agent.....

      and if im still not sure, i would just enter the name listed with the business name on google (example: micro marketing john doe owner), and google would return the exact information i need... say from BBB or other websites that say that jonh doe is in deed the owner of micro marketing....

      thats of course if you are on a budget... otherwise I would subscribe to a list...
      That's fine if you want to do it that way.

      In the time you go through all that to find and verify one name, you could make five phone calls.
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