A good company with the wrong contact is a dead end. You write to someone who cannot buy, who forwards nothing, or who left last spring. Finding the right decision maker is less about digging up a phone number and more about knowing who owns the problem you solve, then proving that person is really there. This guide walks through a method that works at a five person startup and at a large company, with any tool.
The short answer
Start from the problem you solve, not from a list of titles. Work out who owns that problem (the decision maker), who feels it every day (the champion) and who must approve the purchase. In small companies that is often the founder. In larger ones, it is the head of the function that holds the budget. Find the names on the company's team page, LinkedIn and their own posts, confirm each person still works there with a dated source, and write to one or two people with a reason that fits their role.
Decision maker, champion, approver: know the difference
B2B purchases are rarely made by one person. Even a small deal usually touches three roles. The decision maker owns the problem and the budget. The champion feels the problem every day and wants it fixed. The approver, often finance, IT or legal, can slow the deal or stop it but rarely starts it.
Your first message should go to the decision maker or the champion. Approvers come later, and usually the champion brings them in.
| Role | What they care about | Typical titles |
|---|---|---|
| Decision maker | Results, cost, risk to their team | Founder, CEO, VP or head of the function |
| Champion | Daily friction, time saved, their own goals | Manager or lead in the team that feels the problem |
| Approver | Security, contract terms, budget rules | Finance, IT, legal, procurement |
Step 1: Start from the problem, not the title
Write one sentence: what breaks for a customer if they do not have you? Then ask which team suffers when it breaks. That team's leader is your decision maker. Someone inside that team is your champion.
For example, if you sell clinic booking software, the problem is empty appointment slots. Operations feels it every day and the clinic group's operations head owns the fix. The CFO approves. The marketing team may care, but it does not own the problem.
Titles vary by company and by country. A problem does not. Starting from the problem keeps you from chasing every “Director” on a page.
Step 2: Match the titles to the size of the company
The same problem has a different owner at different sizes. In a small company the founder decides almost everything. As the company grows, decisions move to the heads of each function, and buying groups get bigger.
| Company size | Likely decision maker | Likely champion |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 20 people | Founder or CEO | Often the same person |
| 20 to 200 people | Head of the function, COO, sometimes the founder | Team lead or senior manager |
| 200 people and up | VP or director of the function | Manager who runs the daily work |
Step 3: Find the names from public sources
Use sources the company or the person published themselves. They are the most reliable and the easiest to cite later.
Check the company's own team, about and leadership pages. Check the LinkedIn company page and the people listed there. Read recent press releases and news, which often quote the person who owns a project. Look at their own posts, podcast appearances, interviews and conference speaker lists. Read job posts too: they show which team is growing, and sometimes name the hiring manager.
Write down two or three names per company, with a link for each. You will pick from them in Step 6.
Step 4: Prove each person still works there
This is the step most teams skip, and it is the one that saves the most wasted sends. Contact records age. People move.
Accept proof you can point to and date: their LinkedIn profile showing the role as current, the company's team page naming them, or their own post from the last few months that mentions the company. If none of these exist, the person is unconfirmed. Leave them out until you find proof.
When someone has moved, do not just delete them. Check them at the new company. A person who liked a problem enough to own it at one company may own it again at the next.
Step 5: Choose the right way to reach them
Work email is the default for most B2B buyers. Use an address at the company's own domain and drop any address at a different company's domain, since that usually belongs to an old job. Prefer verified addresses, and avoid sending to guessed patterns without a check.
LinkedIn works well when you have no email or when the person is active there. WhatsApp fits markets where buyers treat it as a normal business channel, such as much of the Gulf, and only when you have the number from a legitimate source. Check the platform's business messaging rules and local law before you use it.
Step 6: Pick one or two people and tailor the reason
Do not write to ten people at the same company on the same day. Start with the decision maker or the champion, not both at once. If there is no reply after a full sequence, try the other role with a different angle.
Fit the reason to the role. A founder hears about growth and risk. A head of operations hears about time and errors. A sample first message in the voice we recommend: “Hi Omar, sorry for the cold note. I saw your interview on scaling support across three countries, and the part about handover between teams stuck with me. This is not a pitch. I would value your view: is handover still the hardest part, or has it moved somewhere else?”
Common mistakes to avoid
Writing to the most senior title on the page, whether or not they own the problem. Trusting a contact record without checking the date. Sending to an address at a different company's domain. Messaging the whole team at once, which reads as spam inside the company. Using the same reason for every role.
How Nidaflow finds decision makers
In Nidaflow you describe the people you want in plain words: role, seniority, kind of company, size and market. It looks across several premium data sources, one after another, and keeps going until it reaches the number you asked for or tells you why it stopped.
A person is delivered only when Nidaflow can prove they work there now. The proof is one of four things: their LinkedIn profile shows the job as current, a profile record shows it with a matching company domain, the company's team page names them, or their own post from the last 90 days mentions the company. The row shows it, for example “Works here ✓ (LinkedIn profile, date)”. Someone who cannot be proven is left out and not charged. Someone who moved is checked again at the new company.
Example. In a search that looks at 1,000 people, 210 might be left out because no one could confirm they still work there. Those 210 cost 0 credits, and none of them reach your sequence. Work emails cost 2 credits per email found, each row says whether its email is verified, and emails at a different company's domain are dropped. When a person has no email, the sequence can reach them on LinkedIn instead. The B2B lead generation page under Solutions and the pricing page show the details, and you can start free with 25 credits, no card needed.
Common questions
Who is the decision maker in a small company?
Usually the founder or CEO. In companies of roughly twenty people or fewer, most purchases go through them, so write to them directly and keep the message short.
Should I contact the decision maker or the champion first?
Pick one. Write to the decision maker when the problem is strategic or expensive. Write to the champion when the problem is felt in daily work and the decision maker is hard to reach. Do not message both on the same day.
How many people should I contact at one company?
Start with one, at most two in different roles. If a full sequence gets no reply, try another role with a different reason. Messaging many people at once tends to get noticed inside the company, and not in a good way.
How can I check that a contact still works at a company?
Look for a dated, public source: their LinkedIn profile showing the role as current, the company's team page, or their own recent post that mentions the company. An email at the right domain helps but is not proof on its own.
Is it fine to guess someone's email address?
Guessing a pattern and sending without a check risks bounces, and bounces hurt your sending domain. Use addresses at the company's own domain that have been checked, or reach the person on LinkedIn instead.
Does Nidaflow charge for contacts it cannot verify?
Nidaflow does not deliver people whose current job it cannot prove, and you are not charged for them. Work emails cost 2 credits per email found, and each row says whether that email is verified.