Historical activity needs a current operating check
Historical water evidence and an active legal registration do not establish that a site is still operating; current site activity needs a separate check.
Case study | Industrial prospect research
Finding the companies
behind the water data
For a cold-calling agency supporting a water-quality monitoring specialist, LeadHQ researched Dutch operations with relevant water streams. We connected environmental records, company research and contact information to give the calling team a clearer reason to approach each prospect.
- Buyer
- Cold-calling agency
- Market
- The Netherlands
- Target
- Operations with relevant water streams
- Research
- Facility evidence, company identity and responsible contacts
01The offer behind the brief
Temporary measurement for a specific water question
The end client's offer was rental of movable water-quality measurement equipment, with installation and specialist support. Relevant situations could include a temporary monitoring project, a process change, a new installation or a question about discharge quality.
The prospecting task started with that application. A broad list of manufacturers could identify an industry, but it could not explain which operation used water, where that happened or who was responsible.
02Who we needed to find
An industrial category was only a starting point
Companies
- Dutch industrial and commercial operations with evidence of process water, wastewater or collected rainwater.
- Production sites, tank storage, waste processing and water-related engineering projects.
- Primary focus: more than 50 employees. Smaller companies could qualify where the water application was particularly strong.
- An on-site wastewater treatment plant was not required. A documented production or washing process could establish relevance.
People at those companies
- First priority: environmental and water-management roles.
- Also relevant: technical, maintenance, operations and sustainability roles.
- At engineering firms: the consultant or project lead responsible for the client's water-monitoring work.
- Select contacts by their responsibility for the relevant application.
03How we built the research
Method
Company evidence from EEA/E-PRTR, Overheid.nl and company sources, together with company identity research using the KvK API, PDOK and company websites, feeds a company-fit check against the agreed brief, with optional buying signals. For companies that fit, LinkedIn and Sales Navigator research finds people in the agreed roles, checking role and employer at the time of research. Email addresses and mobile phone numbers for those people are then found through 20+ different providers. The result is a prospecting record with company, evidence and contacts. Human review and feedback return to the company-fit check, and each feedback round sharpens the selection criteria for the next batch. Contact availability does not prove company fit, and sources do not verify buying intent.
Clay supported list management and enrichment; Apify supported collection; Claude and Codex assisted review alongside human feedback. These are research roles, not live connections or a fixed sequence of APIs.
Contact availability does not prove company fit. Sources do not verify buying intent.
1Find companies
EEA/E-PRTR, government publications and company sources identified Dutch operations with relevant water activity.
2Check company fit
Evidence was tied to the correct facility, and company identity and duplicates were resolved against the agreed brief.
3Add buying signals(Optional)
Source-linked developments were captured where available, kept separate from fit as a possible timing signal.
4Find the right people
We searched LinkedIn and Sales Navigator for people in the agreed priority roles, checking the role and employer shown on their profiles at the time of research.
Contact selection started with LinkedIn research, rather than a static contact list. This helped identify relevant people and avoid relying on records for people who had moved on.
5Add contact details
Once the relevant people were identified, we found email addresses and mobile phone numbers through 20+ different providers. Providers added details for selected people; they did not choose who to contact.
6Prepare for delivery
Company records, evidence and contact details were organised in a shared workbook for the agency's workflow.
Our standard workflow also includes preparing fields for your CRM or outreach tool.
Read the full method
01
Start with evidence of the operation
We used European Environment Agency industrial reporting data, including E-PRTR water-release and wastewater-transfer records, to find facilities with reported water-related activity. This provided a more specific starting point than an industry label alone.
We supplemented those records with company websites, sustainability reports, process descriptions, interviews, supplier case studies and public announcements. Overheid.nl government publications added environmental and discharge-permit evidence. Different sources answered different questions: a reporting record could identify an activity, while a process description could explain how water was used.
02
Connect the evidence to the right facility
A source about one facility could not automatically qualify another site owned by the same group. We checked which operation the evidence described and kept the qualification reason tied to that location.
The research also distinguished the water application from what remained unknown. Evidence of washing could support a used-water stream without establishing an on-site treatment plant, a particular discharge route or a current requirement to rent equipment.
03
Resolve the business behind the site
We used the KvK API to support legal-entity matching and company-data enrichment. Address research also used the PDOK location service. Websites and LinkedIn company pages helped connect the operating business to the information needed for contact discovery.
This mattered where company names had changed, a parent website covered several business units, or an address pointed to an office rather than the relevant operation. We compared new candidates with previous deliveries to address duplicates and alternative company names.
04
Find the right people
We searched LinkedIn and Sales Navigator for people in the agreed priority roles, checking the role and employer shown on their profiles at the time of research. LinkedIn and Sales Navigator supported company and contact discovery. Apify supported website and LinkedIn company-data collection during review.
Contact selection started with LinkedIn research, rather than a static contact list. This helped identify relevant people and avoid relying on records for people who had moved on.
05
Add contact details
Once the relevant people were identified, we found email addresses and mobile phone numbers through 20+ different providers.
Contact details were a separate layer. Finding a person or a mobile number did not establish company fit. Likewise, a strong company match did not automatically mean that the right person could be identified and reached.
06
Prepare for delivery
Clay supported list management and enrichment. The delivery separated the reason for company fit, the relevant water application, supporting sources and any additional timing signal. Company records, evidence and contact details were organised in a shared workbook for the agency's workflow.
07
Review the decisions, then refine the next batch
The project combined AI-assisted research, Claude and Codex review, and human feedback. Disputed assessments were revisited against the current brief and the underlying evidence.
The work developed through several batches. Additional candidates were researched to account for duplicates, qualification gaps, identity issues and losses during contact discovery. Feedback informed subsequent selection and reassessment.
04Sources and tools, with a defined job
Sources and tools
Each source or tool had a defined research role, from water-activity evidence to company matching and contact discovery.
Explore the sources and tools
| Source or tool | Role in this project |
|---|---|
| EEA / E-PRTR | Role in this project: Find reported industrial water releases and wastewater transfers. |
| Overheid.nl government publications | Role in this project: Research environmental and discharge-permit evidence. |
| Company and trade sources | Role in this project: Establish the specific process, facility and relevant developments. |
| KvK API | Role in this project: Support legal-entity matching and business-record enrichment. |
| PDOK location service | Role in this project: Support address matching. |
| Clay | Role in this project: Manage the working lists and support enrichment. |
| LinkedIn / Sales Navigator | Role in this project: Support company identification and find people in the agreed roles, checking the role and employer shown at the time of research. |
| Contact data providers | Role in this project: Once the relevant people were identified, add email addresses and mobile phone numbers through 20+ different providers. |
| Apify | Role in this project: Collect website and LinkedIn company information for review. |
| Claude / Codex | Role in this project: Assist research and qualification review, with human feedback. |
05What the delivery brought together
Company context, qualification evidence and contact records
The shared workbook brought company details and contact records together with water-activity descriptions, qualification reasons and supporting sources. Additional signals were recorded separately where found. Field completeness varied, so an available value and a verified fact were not treated as the same thing.
This gave the agency material to review before calling and context for deciding how to approach a relevant operation. It also created a basis for feedback on subsequent batches.
Fictional example showing the record structure. This is not a customer or delivered prospect.
- Company
- A Dutch food-production site with an industrial washing process.
- Evidence
- A site-specific process description explains how production equipment is washed. This supports a relevant used-water stream; it does not establish a current rental requirement.
- Contacts
- Target the person responsible for environmental compliance, water management or the technical installation. Confirm responsibility before selecting the contact.
06What the project sharpened
Company fit and buying intent remain separate
Company fit and timing signals do not confirm buying intent or a current rental need; the sales conversation must establish that.
Read the project lessons in full
Historical activity needs a current operating check
The project highlighted the need to check that the specific operation was still active. Historical water evidence and an active legal registration could both remain available after a site had stopped production.
That learning strengthened LeadHQ's review rules: check current site activity, reconcile contradictory information and refresh uncertain records before delivery. These controls developed through the project and its feedback.
Company fit and buying intent remain separate
A relevant water stream explains why a company belongs in the target audience. A recent permit or installation may provide a reason to investigate timing. Neither confirms that the company wants to rent equipment now. That is something the sales conversation must establish.
100% match against the agreed brief, with free replacements for mismatches
The guarantee covers fit against the agreed criteria. It does not promise buying intent, successful contact, appointments or revenue.
Need an ongoing flow of researched prospects?
Tell us which companies you need, what makes them a match and which people your team needs to reach. We can discuss an ongoing research and enrichment workflow around your sales capacity, with feedback used to refine subsequent batches.
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