If you do not find new leads and make new sales, you will not be able to drive growth – it is as simple as that.
Lead generation is a constant balancing act: time, budget, and quality rarely align perfectly. That’s why many B2B companies eventually ask the question: should we just buy leads instead?
Buying relevant leads is an alternative way to generate new business. There are, however, both benefits and risks involved in the process. Today, we will look over when, how, and from where it can be beneficial to buy sales leads.
When buying leads actually works
Effective lead generation isn’t just about volume but lead quality. Whether you’re sourcing leads through inbound campaigns or buying them from a provider, you must align with your ideal customer profile (ICP). Your ICP acts as a strategic filter, helping sales teams focus their efforts on prospects who are most likely to convert. Without it, teams waste time on mismatched leads and hurting performance across the funnel.
Buying leads can be a fast track to a full pipeline, but it’s not always the right move. When done right with trusted providers, clear targeting, and ethical data collection it can accelerate sales cycles and support revenue growth. When done wrong, it drains budgets and damages brand reputation.
Let's see when buying leads adds real value and how it compares to collecting leads in-house:
What type of leads can you buy?
B2B sales teams need more than just email addresses to qualify and convert prospects. The best lead lists go beyond basic contact details and provide actionable context about both the company and the individual decision-makers. Let's start from the essentials and move toward data that enables deeper targeting and personalization.
1. Contact information
At minimum, a usable lead should include an accurate email address. Bonus points if the list includes a company domain, website URL, or physical location to support outreach validation.
2. Direct phone numbers
While technically this is a part of contact information, verified mobile or direct lines are a step up. They enable faster follow-ups and support multi-channel outreach strategies like cold calling or SMS.
3. Firmographic data
Firmographic data is essential for B2B. It includes company size, industry, location, revenue, employee count, and other business-level details that help determine fit and prioritize accounts based on your ideal customer profile (ICP).
4. Decision-maker attributes
Knowing who you're reaching out to is just as critical as what company they represent. High-quality data should include job titles, roles, seniority levels, and team or department names to help route messaging to the right stakeholders.
5. Technographic data
Crucial for software and tech vendors. This shows what tools or platforms the company is already using. Tech stack information helps you tailor your pitch or identify likely pain points your product can solve.
Data becomes strategic if you could also include intent signals. Intent data includes behavioral indicators, such as content consumption, job postings, or product research activity, that suggest a company is actively looking for a solution like yours.
How to buy leads list?
You can buy business leads online from various lead generation lists platforms, lead providers, and websites offering lead lists. There are important preparation steps you should take before you buy leads.
1. Know what you need
Developing an ICP or a buyer persona is a good way of knowing what type of customer you are looking for. You can, however, go beyond that and figure out which data points are of most value to you. Audit your sales process to identify what helps your sales professionals the most in determining buyer intent.
2. Buy business leads from trustworthy providers
Many of the lead list providers that you will find online do not know what they are doing. Thus, to avoid problems with data regulation or bad quality leads, look for well-reviewed, professional-looking lead generation platforms or data brokers. Make sure that the providers specialize in B2B and not consumer leads.
3. Compare key offerings
When choosing among the professional providers, compare their key offerings, such as how data-rich is the lead list, how fresh is the data, do their offer a free plan as a trial, and whether you can contact them for custom lead lists. Additionally, their tools and key features related to data export, delivery, and CRM integration should be considered.
4. Look into pricing
Of course, you want to get the best deal possible. Thus, it is wise to compare prices for the cheapest offer of the same value to your company. As mentioned, however, be suspicious of extremely low prices, as it might signal that the lead list provider is selling the same outbound leads to multiple firms. If possible, look at the logic behind the pricing and see if it is reasonable. In other words, if the price is grounded in the provided services and value.
5. Validate the lead list for quality leads
Actively check the product you have received to ensure that you are getting your money’s worth. Use tools like email verification tool to make sure that there are no duplicates and that the business leads on your lead list are actually unique, high-quality leads. If the list requires a lot of data enrichment to become useful, it might be a good idea to purchase leads from a different lead data provider next time.
Where to buy B2B leads? Top lead data providers
To make it easier for you to find and buy leads list that you can actually use, we have compiled a list of the best sources for targeted leads in 2025.
1. Coresignal
There are many reasons why Coresignal can safely claim to be the best B2B lead data provider. From firmographic to technographic data, from company reviews to startup information, in Coresignal’s massive database, you will find everything comprising a high-quality business lead.
Database APIs and fast, high-quality data delivery in convenient formats ensure that new leads reach you as soon as possible. Ensuring CRM integration and data enrichment, Coresignal is the lead buying platform with a substantial amount of leads for B2B companies.
And with the help of multiple search filters, you can easily find lead information most relevant to you, thus making sure that you get data products customized to your needs.
Any specific questions about buying leads?
Coresignal is a solid choice when looking for a data partner. Reach out and get a free consultation to map and match your data needs.
2. Linkedin Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the sales intelligence solution of LinkedIn used by marketers and sales professionals. This tool is made to buy sales leads directly on Linkedin. The advanced plan allows for CRM integration and updates with data validation.
Allowing for unlimited network access, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the best search tool for lead generation directly on this professional network. However, if you need more than LinkedIn leads, you should get a more versatile data provider.
3. Uplead
Uplead is a reputable lead generation platform offering access to lead databases of high-quality prospects. The company offers a 95% guarantee of data accuracy.
All in all, Uplead has a good reputation and offers a free trial which might be worth checking out.
4. Lusha
As a sales intelligence platform used by sales reps and marketers to find business leads, Lusha can be really helpful. A key feature of this tool also offers lead scoring that helps identify buyer intent.
This lead generation tool focuses on the US market, so it is not very useful for businesses elsewhere or US companies entering a new market. Features like CRM integration require a higher-tier plan.
5. Anymailfinder
Let us finish the list with something for small businesses looking for a simple and cheap but trustworthy solution. Anymailfinder is an email search tool that helps to find and verify company emails.
It has no additional features like scoring or CRM integration but promises a 97% or higher delivery rate. Thus, this is currently the best starting option for those whose lead generation is currently limited to acquiring emails.
How to evaluate a lead data provider
While a strong provider can fuel your pipeline with high-quality prospects, the wrong one can waste your budget and damage your outreach credibility. Here's how to assess a vendor before committing.
1. Check data accuracy and freshness
Start by reviewing their claims about data accuracy and freshness. Ask how often their databases are updated and what tools they use for email and contact verification. Stale or inaccurate data leads to high bounce rates and wasted time.
2. Assess targeting and filtering capabilities
A strong provider should offer advanced filters that align with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), including firmographics (industry, size, location), technographics (tools used), and intent signals. Seek to buy high intent leads to ensure your team doesn't waste time.
3. Review compliance and ethical standards
Ensure the provider stays in line with data privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA. Ask where and how the data is sourced. Ethically sourced data protects your brand and ensures your outreach won't run into legal trouble.
4. Compare integration and delivery options
The best providers make it easy to act on the data. Look for features like CRM integration, API access, data enrichment, and export flexibility. Seamless integration saves your team time and ensures data flows efficiently into your sales systems.
5. Evaluate reputation and support
Research user reviews on third-party platforms, check case studies, and request a free trial or sample. Also, try out their customer support. Reliable, responsive service is crucial if issues arise or custom lists are needed.
A top-tier lead data provider delivers more than just names and emails but also accuracy, compliance, targeting, and support. Invest time in evaluating your options upfront to ensure your lead generation efforts pay off in both quality and ROI.
Buying vs. generating leads
If you can generate leads in-house, it's usually the better option. There are many reasons for that.
- You can customize your list specifically to meet your ideal customer requirements.
- You are in control of the entire lead generation process. Thus, you can make sure that quality standards are followed, and regulations are met.
- No additional validation is needed except for the normal due diligence in ensuring data quality.
- Time, money, and resources that you dedicate can be flexibly adjusted at all times.
- You can go after exactly those data points that you deem most valuable.
On the other hand, purchasing leads can be the better option for small businesses or companies entering a new market. Any firm can benefit from purchasing business leads in the following ways.
- It might be cost-effective to buy leads for your business.
- Sales reps can dedicate more time to other tasks across the sales pipeline, like appointment setting and lead nurturing.
- Professional data providers will be able to share their lead generation expertise. Thus you might end up with higher-quality leads that you could have acquired on your own.
- Companies professionally providing business lead data are also likely to be able to get more varied lead information than you could gather on your own.
- Keeping lead lists fresh is an ongoing process. Thus, even if you can create a lead list, data enrichment through purchasing is advisable.
At the end of the day, only you can tell which way to go is the most viable for you. The better option this week might not be the same next week.
Common mistakes when buying leads
Even the best lead databases won’t deliver results if the buying process is rushed or poorly evaluated. Here are some of the most common mistakes companies make when purchasing B2B leads (and how to avoid them):
- Prioritizing quantity over quality. Large lists may look appealing, but without proper filtering, most of those contacts won’t match your ICP or conversion goals.
- Buying bulk lead lists with no targeting. Generic, prepackaged lists often include irrelevant companies, inaccurate data points, or leads far outside your market.
- Using stale or outdated data. Lead data loses value quickly. If it isn’t refreshed regularly, you risk contacting companies that have changed roles, pivoted, or no longer exist.
- Focusing only on price. Low-cost vendors usually cut corners on data accuracy, update frequency, or sourcing standards. Cheap leads often cost more in lost time and poor conversions.
- Not verifying compliance and data ethics. Always confirm how the data was collected. Reputable vendors rely on publicly available, ethically sourced information and follow GDPR/CCPA requirements to protect your business from compliance risks.
Quality, relevance, and ethical sourcing should always come before volume or price. A small, high-quality lead list is far more valuable than a massive database of poorly matched contacts.
Summing up
Business leads are not always easy to get through organic lead generation. Buying a lead list might be a good option for small businesses and growing companies alike. When considering purchasing leads, be sure to find a provider that you can trust and consult them for what they can offer.
Any questions about buying leads?
Coresignal is a solid choice when looking for a data partner. Reach out and get a free consultation to map and match your data needs.
