August 19, 2026
One of the most common questions clients ask me is: "How do you actually find these people's emails and phone numbers?" It's a valid question. The internet is full of outdated databases and scraped lists that result in high bounce rates. Here is my exact methodology for finding and verifying B2B contacts.
Everything starts with identity. Before I look for an email, I need to make sure I have the right person. I use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter by industry, company headcount, and precise job titles. Sales Navigator is the gold standard because people update it themselves—if someone left a company last week, LinkedIn usually knows.
Once I've identified the decision-maker (e.g., the VP of Marketing at a target SaaS company), I use extraction tools. Apollo.io is fantastic for finding B2B email addresses associated with that company domain. If I need direct-dial mobile phone numbers or personal emails, I'll layer on tools like ContactOut or Lusha, which cross-reference public web data.
This is the step most amateurs skip. I never assume an email from Apollo is 100% accurate. I export the list and run it through NeverBounce. This tool pings the recipient's mail server to confirm the inbox is active and ready to receive mail. Any emails that come back as "invalid" or "catch-all" are stripped from the final list to protect my client's email sender reputation.
By combining Sales Navigator for targeting, Apollo for extraction, and NeverBounce for verification, I can guarantee highly accurate B2B lead generation lists.