Blog - Supplyco

Introduction:

Your CRM is full of contacts and companies you already know - but what about the ones you don’t know yet? For manufacturing sales teams, the next big customer might be a company that’s not in your database, not on your mailing list, perhaps not even on your radar. Relying solely on internal sales data and CRM records can leave you blind to a huge swath of the market. External data is the key to looking beyond your CRM and discovering hidden manufacturing prospects that could become valuable customers. By tapping into external data sources - from business registries and industry databases to news feeds and government records - sales teams can identify more companies in their Total Addressable Market (TAM) and prioritize those with the highest potential. In this post, we’ll explore why external data is a game-changer for prospecting and how to leverage it effectively.

The Limits of Your CRM Data:

A CRM system is an essential tool, but it has a fundamental limitation: it only contains what you’ve put into it. Typically, that means known accounts (current customers, past leads, or companies you’ve consciously targeted). There may be thousands of manufacturers or suppliers out there that fit your ideal profile but have never crossed your path, so they’re absent from your CRM. As a result, sales teams often unknowingly operate with a partial view of the market. Explorium notes that industrial sales teams are often “not aware of all the businesses located in their TAM” and consequently miss out on many potential targets. Additionally, for the prospects that are in your CRM, the information might be limited or outdated. Perhaps you have a company name and industry, but not much insight into whether they truly are a good fit or currently in a buying cycle. This lack of information can lead you to chase poor leads while ignoring better ones. In short, if you live in the CRM bubble, you’re likely leaving money on the table and wasting effort.

How External Data Reveals Hidden Prospects:

External data refers to information sourced from outside your organization. In the context of manufacturing sales, this can include a wide array of sources and data types. Here are a few powerful categories of external data and how they help unearth prospects:

Business Directories and Registries: These are databases of companies often categorized by industry, size, location, etc. Examples include Dun & Bradstreet’s database, ThomasNet for industrial suppliers, or even government databases of licensed manufacturers. By querying these sources, you might discover, say, 500 metal fabrication shops in a region where your CRM only had 50 listed. Each of those could be a new prospect. External data tools can automatically pull such lists based on criteria (e.g., “all automotive parts manufacturers in Germany with >200 employees”). Suddenly, your universe of prospects expands dramatically.
Industry and Trade Data: Consider sources like UCC filings (which indicate if a company has financed new equipment), building permits (showing facility expansions or new plant construction), or import/export records(bills of lading indicating supply chain relationships). These data points can identify companies that are growing or investing - signals that they may need new suppliers or machinery. For instance, if a mid-size electronics manufacturer files permits for a new production line, and you sell industrial ovens, that’s a cue they might need additional ovens. A sales intelligence platform can monitor these datasets and alert you to in-market buyers you didn’t know about. These companies would be “hidden” prospects because without external data, you’d never know they were signaling demand.
News and Social Media: External data isn’t just numeric or structured; it can be unstructured text from news articles, press releases, or social media posts. Perhaps a local news piece announces that Company X (which you haven’t worked with) just landed a big contract to produce components for wind turbines. That’s a signal Company X might soon need more tools or materials - an opportunity for you. Social media or industry forums might have chatter about a factory facing supply issues, indicating a potential opening for new suppliers. Modern AI can even perform web scraping and natural language processing to scan for such intent signals at scale, feeding your team a steady stream of “hidden” leads to investigate.
Third-Party Enrichment Data: Beyond finding net-new prospects, external data also helps reveal which of your existing leads are hidden gems. By enriching your CRM records with third-party data, you might uncover that a lukewarm lead in your system is actually a perfect fit. For example, a company in your CRM might have an innocuous profile, but enrichment could show they recently received a large round of funding or opened a new plant. Now they’re a hot prospect worth pursuing. External datasets can append attributes like technologies used (technographics), credit risk, ESG scores, etc., giving a multidimensional view of each prospect. This often reveals that some companies you thought were low priority are actually very promising (and vice versa).

Case in Point - Expanding the TAM:

To illustrate, imagine you manufacture precision components for industrial machinery. Your sales team historically sold mostly to automotive part makers in the Midwest. Using an external data platform, you perform a TAM analysis and discover there are entire categories of manufacturers (e.g., medical device manufacturers, aerospace parts suppliers) in North America that fit your component specifications but whom you’ve never targeted. You identify 300 such companies and import them as new leads. Further, external data shows that 50 of these have recently increased their production capacity (via news of new facility openings). Those 50 are golden prospects - high fit and likely in need of new component suppliers. Without external data, these opportunities would have remained hidden. With it, you’ve effectively unearthed a treasure trove of leads and expanded your market footprint.

Another real-world example: An industrial manufacturing firm used external data to reveal all businesses in their extended market and found 10,000 new leads that were previously off their radar. By prioritizing them with data (which ones matched their ICP and showed buying signs), they significantly boosted their pipeline and conversion rates. This underscores how many prospects can lurk beyond the confines of your current CRM list.

Leveraging External Data Effectively:

To make the most of external data, follow these best practices:

Define Your ICP First: Know the characteristics of your ideal customer (industry, size, geography, equipment used, etc.). This acts as a filter when mining external data so you get relevant prospects. A data-driven ICP (as discussed in the next blog post) will make external data searches more precise.
Use Advanced Tools or Platforms: Manually scouring various websites and databases for leads is not scalable. Instead, use platforms like Supplyco.ai or Explorium that aggregate numerous data sources and use AI to surface matching companies. These platforms can continuously scan for new companies that meet your criteria and even refresh data on existing ones. For example, Supplyco.ai’s system continuously discovers and researches manufacturing prospects using 9+ data sources. The heavy lifting is done for you.
Enrich and Update Regularly: External data is not a one-time affair. Markets evolve - new companies emerge, existing ones change. Integrate external data enrichment as a recurring process. Schedule updates so that, say, every quarter your CRM is refreshed with the latest firmographics and any new companies. This way, hidden prospects are regularly brought to light, and stale info (like an outdated contact or a company that closed down) is cleaned out.
Combine External and Internal Intelligence: Your sales team’s knowledge combined with external data is a powerful duo. Use external data to create an initial target list, but then layer in any internal intel (perhaps your regional rep knows that one of those companies just had a management shake-up, which could be a good or bad sign). Data should augment, not completely replace, human judgment. Prioritize leads that score well externally and also align with your strategic focus or gut feel from experience.
Respect Privacy and Ethics: When using external data, ensure you’re complying with privacy laws and regulations. Public and B2B data are generally fair game, but be transparent and respectful in how you reach out. A best practice is to use the insight from external data to craft a more relevant message, rather than to surprise-prospect by revealing you “know” something about them. For instance, it’s better to say “We work with many companies expanding their facilities and facing scaling challenges” rather than “We saw your building permit for 123 Main St. - need our products?” which might come off as creepy.

Conclusion & Call to Action:

In the quest for new business, looking beyond your CRM is no longer optional - it’s essential. External data opens your eyes to the full landscape of manufacturing prospects, ensuring you’re not missing high-potential customers simply because you haven’t encountered them yet. By enriching your internal data with external intelligence, you solve two problems at once: you map your total addressable market more completely, and you avoid wasting time on poor-fit leads by focusing on those that truly match your target profile. The manufacturers who master external data are effectively hunting with radar, while those who don’t are flying blind. Don’t let hidden prospects stay hidden from you.

Take the next step in your sales evolution by harnessing external data.

Supplyco.ai specializes in uncovering those hard-to-find opportunities and delivering them right to your sales dashboard. Request a demo to see how integrating rich external data can flood your pipeline with qualified manufacturing leads you never knew you had.