Crunchbase 101 for Sales: How to Use Advanced Search to Find Qualified Leads in Your Territory

In the “Crunchbase 101 for Sales” series, you’ll learn how to leverage Crunchbase’s all-in-one prospecting software to streamline your sales workflow and crush your quota.


Your quota isn’t getting any smaller, and your territory isn’t getting any bigger. So, how do you find more qualified leads in your territory, faster?

The most effective prospectors take an account-based selling approach. If you’re a Winner’s Circle/President’s Club regular, you know that time = $, and it’s much more efficient to identify companies that match your ideal customer profile (ICP) and are in a position to buy than start your research at the lead level.

Here’s the catch — many prospecting tools only provide lists of leads. This means you’re left to backtrack in order to find out if the company each of your leads works for is in a position to buy in the first place. Then, you have to do more research to find relevant information to use in your outreach, in addition to making sure each lead is the right person at the company to contact. 

But, there’s good news for you: Crunchbase can help you find accounts in your territory that match your ICP and find the right contacts at those companies. Let’s start by walking through how to define your sales territory in Crunchbase and use advanced search to find the right accounts.

 

How to define your sales territory in Crunchbase 

When you open up Crunchbase’s advanced search, you’ll see millions of companies and potential prospects. While it’s fantastic to have so many options, your time and energy will be much better spent focusing on a hyper-targeted list of accounts in your territory.

If you have a list of 20 that match your ICP, for example, you can avoid using a stale sales email template to blast leads that don’t fit your criteria.

To ensure you’re finding the most qualified prospects in your territory, you can update your territory preferences within Crunchbase. Here are three different ways to do it:

  1. From your Crunchbase homepage in the ‘This Week on Crunchbase’ box on the top right of your screen, you’ll see the option to ‘Edit Territory.’ Simply click here and your territory preferences editor will pop up.
Crunchbase homepage edit territory option circled
 
  1. From within an advanced company search, on the left side of your screen directly below ‘Filters,’ you’ll see ‘Edit Territory’ if you haven’t added territory preferences before, or ‘Apply Territory’ if you have previously added your preferences. When you click ‘Apply Territory’ your search results will automatically update based on your territory preferences, so make sure they are up-to-date.
Crunchase advanced search apply territory option cirlced
 
  1. From your recommended companies page, you’ll see an ‘Edit Territory’ button in the top right corner of your screen. The territory editor will pop up when you click here.
Crunchbase recommended companies feature, edit territory option circled
 

Once you’re in the territory editor you’ll be able to personalize your search results, company recommendations, and homepage with key ICP characteristics like location (company headquarters), industry, and size (number of employees).

Edit sales territory popup
 

How to use advanced search to streamline account research

Crunchbase advanced search optimizes the research phase of the sales prospecting workflow by enabling salespeople to search for prospects that fit their ICP, and are in their territory, at scale. 

Once you’ve defined your sales territory, here’s a quick demo that walks through how you can easily find new accounts that match your ICP with advanced search:

   

Research and reach out, all in one platform

Now that you’ve found new prospects and pushed them to your Salesforce for easy ownership tracking and management, you’re ready to either add your new prospects to a list to stay updated on key company buying signals (like new funding, or changes in company leadership), or take the next step and find the right decision-makers to contact. 

 

Crunchbase is the only solution that lets account executives find the right accounts and the right people because it shows us where the money is. We could not do our jobs without it.

– Katie Harkins, Director of Sales, UserTesting
 

The good news is, by starting at the account level, you’ve set yourself up for success and are equipped with valuable company insights that can help you customize your outreach. (We all know customized outreach = more meetings booked.) And the best part? With our new contact data and email integration, you can find and engage decision-makers all within Crunchbase

Part of a sales team? Learn more about how you can get access to Crunchbase Enterprise’s advanced team collaboration software and unlock as many contacts as you need.

 

And, don’t forget to check out the rest of the “Crunchbase 101 for Sales” series to learn:

  • Originally published August 2, 2021, updated December 24, 2021