Prospecting software is sold on database size. Database size is the least useful number in the category. What decides whether a tool produces revenue is how much of your specific market it covers, how recently those records were confirmed, and how cleanly the data reaches the systems your team actually works in.
Coverage in your market, not in total
A platform with 200 million global records may hold fewer usable SME records in the Netherlands, Belgium or Ireland than a focused provider with registry access in those markets. Always test coverage on a sample of 100 companies you already know, and count how many are present, correct and complete.
Do the same for the segments that matter: small firms, single-location businesses and recently founded companies are where generic databases are thinnest.
Freshness and provenance
Ask two questions of every field: where did this come from and when was it last confirmed? A vendor that cannot answer is reselling aged files. Look for per-field source and timestamp, a published refresh cadence and a changelog you can audit.
Freshness matters most on the fields you act on — director names, addresses, status and phone routes. Slow-changing fields like sector codes can safely be refreshed less often.
CRM integration and workflow fit
Compare integrations on four points: field mapping, deduplication against existing CRM records, two-way sync or one-way push, and the ability to re-enrich a record on a schedule. A tool that creates duplicates in your CRM costs more in cleanup than it saves in research.
Also check API access and rate limits. If enrichment can only happen in the vendor's UI, it will not survive contact with a real sales process.
Export rights and true cost
Read the licence: can you export, retain and use the data after the subscription ends, and in which channels? Restrictive licences turn a data purchase into a rental you cannot audit.
Compute cost per usable record — total annual price divided by the records that pass your validation gates — rather than cost per credit. On that basis a smaller, market-specific database usually beats a global one.
Frequently asked questions
What should a B2B prospecting tool include?
Registry-grade company data for your markets, role-based contacts, recency signals, filters for sector, size and location, CRM integration with deduplication, API access and clear export rights.
How do I compare CRM integration features in prospecting software?
Check field mapping, duplicate handling against existing records, sync direction, scheduled re-enrichment and API rate limits. Run a pilot import of 50 records before committing.
Is a bigger database always better?
No. Coverage and accuracy inside your target market and segment matter far more than global record counts, especially for SME and local prospecting.
