Find the right companies
Define the audience. Read the evidence. Build a useful first list.
THE STACKSHORTLIST FIELD GUIDESGood leads.
Good leads.
Better next moves.
Finding the right company is the beginning. Learn how to research it, start a useful conversation and move the work through your sales system.
Explore the libraryStart better conversations
Research, write and follow up with a clear reason to get in touch.
Build a working sales system
Make the data usable. Give every record an owner and a next step.
FIND YOUR NEXT STEP
The field guide library.
Practical methods. Worked examples.
A clearer way to move forward.
30 guides
Buying & planning14 min
How to Buy a B2B Lead List That Matches Your Campaign
Write a clear B2B lead purchase specification, resolve eligibility rules, compare research depth, and test a delivered batch against the campaign you planned.
Read the guideBuying & planning14 min
Company Counts and Contact Counts Are Different
Understand company quantities, contact rows, duplicate people, and account coverage so a lead list quote and its delivered files can be reconciled correctly.
Read the guideBuying & planning14 min
What a Useful Lead List Sample Should Show
Review a B2B lead sample with an explicit rubric for company fit, contact linkage, evidence, missing values, and unresolved cases before accepting a larger order.
Read the guideBuying & planning15 min
Basic Leads or Scored Leads: Choosing the Right Depth
Compare basic lead data, general company briefs, and offer-specific research using the same fictional account, decision logs, and a practical depth selection table.
Read the guideBuying & planning23 min
When Custom Intelligence Is Worth the Extra Research
Decide when an offer-specific company dossier is worth requesting, what seller context to provide, and how to judge its fit reasoning without inventing buying intent.
Read the guideBuying & planning15 min
How to Specify a Custom Lead Research Order
Create a custom lead research brief with seller context, explicit eligibility, exclusions, evidence rules, and a completed fictional specification you can adapt.
Read the guideBuying & planning15 min
Why Custom Research Orders Need a Minimum Scope
Understand the setup work behind a custom research order, distinguish fixed preparation from per-company work, and choose a minimum scope that supports a useful decision.
Read the guideBuying & planning14 min
How to Compare Lead Data Quotes Fairly
Compare lead data quotes on the same company unit, contact requirements, research depth, evidence, exclusions, and acceptance rules with an original worksheet.
Read the guideBuying & planning15 min
What Lead Data Can and Cannot Promise
Set realistic expectations for B2B lead data by separating delivered records, fit evidence, outreach execution, conversations, and opportunities in a responsibility map.
Read the guideBuying & planning15 min
Build an Acceptance Test Before Buying Leads
Define ten objective lead list acceptance rules with clear denominators, evidence states, correction handling, and worked examples before purchasing a batch.
Read the guideResearch & qualification14 min
Research Your Own Offer Before Scoring Prospects
Build a seller profile from your website and current delivery facts before scoring prospects, with confirmed offers, exclusions, uncertainties, and versioned criteria.
Read the guideEnrichment & data15 min
Measure Coverage Separately from Accuracy
Measure lead data coverage and accuracy separately with field-level denominators, sample rules, worked calculations, and a practical acceptance report.
Read the guideEnrichment & data14 min
Unknown Is a Useful Research Result
Handle missing company research with clear unknown states, evidence limits, retry rules, scoring decisions, and two detailed illustrative cases.
Read the guideEnrichment & data14 min
What Email Verification Actually Tells You
Understand business email verification statuses, separate mailbox checks from person and role evidence, and build a practical contact acceptance workflow.
Read the guideEnrichment & data14 min
Audit an AI Company Brief for Unsupported Claims
Review AI company briefs claim by claim with a source audit, entity checks, inference labels, correction rules, and two detailed fictional examples.
Read the guideEnrichment & data14 min
Design a Freshness Policy by Field
Set field-specific review rules for company roles, jobs, platforms, offers, and business facts, with freshness states and practical worked examples.
Read the guideEnrichment & data14 min
Score a Supplied List Without Silently Dropping Records
Reconcile every input row when scoring an existing list, with stable IDs, duplicate rules, failure states, score handling, and an illustrated audit.
Read the guideProspecting23 min
Build a Web Design Prospect List from Observable Evidence
Build a web design prospect list with a detailed mobile, content, navigation, and business-fit rubric, three fictional reviews, and a practical workflow.
Read the guideTechnology signals24 min
What Website Technology Detection Can Actually Prove
Interpret website technology evidence with a granular guide to scope, current and historical signals, false positives, platform claims, and lead qualification.
Read the guideTechnology signals14 min
How to Verify Shopify Plus Claims
Evaluate Shopify Plus claims with an evidence hierarchy, current plan checks, scope rules, unresolved cases, and a practical prospecting review checklist.
Read the guideCRM & workflows14 min
Prepare Lead Data for HubSpot Company and Contact Imports
Prepare company and contact research for HubSpot with explicit identifiers, association maps, protected fields, test batches, and reconciliation checks.
Read the guideCRM & workflows14 min
Prepare Account Research for Salesforce Without Mixing Objects
Map account research into Salesforce with clear Lead, Account, and Contact boundaries, reviewed IDs, protected fields, test cases, and reconciliation.
Read the guideCRM & workflows14 min
Map Company Intelligence into Pipedrive Organizations
Import company research into Pipedrive with clear organization and person fields, system IDs, controlled updates, association checks, and reconciliation.
Read the guideCRM & workflows14 min
Import Research into Clay with Sources Intact
Bring sourced company research into Clay with stable keys, claim-level evidence, clear nulls, controlled enrichment, and reviewable downstream exports.
Read the guideEmail & outreach15 min
SPF, DKIM and DMARC: a practical guide for sales teams
Understand SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, build a sending inventory, inspect alignment, coordinate DNS changes, and troubleshoot sales email authentication.
Read the guideCRM & workflows16 min
How to manage leads in a CRM from import to qualified opportunity
Build a practical CRM lead management system with clear stages, field maps, routing rules, qualification checks, handoffs, and weekly reconciliation.
Read the guideSales management16 min
How to manage a small sales team with a repeatable weekly system
Manage a small sales team with practical weekly planning, useful coaching, clear ownership, realistic capacity, and evidence-based pipeline reviews.
Read the guideSales management15 min
Lead routing and sales handoffs: a practical operating guide
Design lead routing and sales handoffs with clear precedence, acceptance rules, field maps, coverage, exception queues, and practical worked examples.
Read the guideSales management15 min
Measure sales pipeline performance without rewarding busywork
Measure sales pipeline performance with clear cohorts, stage evidence, conversion denominators, aging, forecast checks, and practical diagnostic examples.
Read the guideEmail & outreach26 min
How to plan and run a relevant B2B cold email campaign
Plan a B2B cold email campaign with a clear audience, researched relevance, responsible sending, useful messages, reply handling, and a measurable pilot.
Read the guide