Directory and Exhibitor Lists → Decision Makers
Outcome: a scraped or exported directory list turned into a deduped account table with named, role-matched contacts and a measured conversion rate from listing to contactable person.
- Surface
- App and MCP server
- Level
- Intermediate
- Uses
- Import · enrich_organization · find_people_within_company
- Credits
- ~15 for a 50-company list
- Prerequisite
- A directory, exhibitor or member list
Why these lists are worth the work
An exhibitor list is a set of companies that spent money to be in front of your market. An association membership list is a set of companies that self-identified as being in a category. Both carry qualification the general market does not.
What they do not carry is people. The listing gives you a company name, maybe a URL, occasionally a generic contact. This lesson closes that gap.
Clean before you enrich
Directory exports are messy in predictable ways.
Resolve the domain
The listing may have a URL with tracking parameters, a sub-page, a redirect, or nothing at all. Normalize to a root domain — everything downstream keys off it.
Where there is no URL, the company name plus location can usually resolve one, but check the result: common names resolve to the wrong company routinely.
Drop the non-companies
Directory lists contain sponsors, media partners, the venue, the organizer, and sometimes the catering company. Read the list.
Deduplicate
Companies appear multiple times: multiple booths, multiple product lines, parent and subsidiary. Dedupe on normalized domain.
Separate parents from operating entities
An exhibitor listing often shows the group brand while the buyer sits at a regional operating company. Decide which one you sell to.
Domain resolution by name is where these lists go wrong. “Apex Systems” at a European trade fair may resolve to a US company with the same name, and every enrichment after that describes the wrong business. Spot-check 20 resolved domains against the listing’s own description before enriching the rest.
Qualify before finding people
The list is pre-qualified for category, not for fit. Run your normal firmographic filters — size, geography, business model — before spending on contacts.
Expect a meaningful cut. A trade show with 400 exhibitors typically contains 400 companies in your category and 120 in your ICP.
Find the right role
Standard function-plus-seniority search on the survivors, with one adjustment specific to these lists: the person who attended is rarely the person who buys.
| Who is at the booth | Who you want |
|---|---|
| Sales and partnerships staff | The functional owner of the problem you solve |
| Marketing, running the stand | Same |
| A founder, at smaller companies | Often the same person — this one is fine |
Where the directory does name a contact, keep it as context but do not treat it as your target unless the role matches.
Measure the funnel
Four numbers, and they tell you whether to bother with the next directory:
| Step | Typical |
|---|---|
| Listings in the export | 400 |
| Unique companies after cleaning | 340 |
| Passing ICP filters | 120 |
| With at least one contactable person | 95 |
Conversion from listing to contactable person is roughly 20–25% on a well-matched directory. Below 10%, the directory is not aimed at your market and the next one probably is not either.
Do this now
Import the raw list
Everything, uncleaned, into a staging table.
Resolve and normalize domains
Spot-check 20 by hand.
Remove non-companies and duplicates
Apply firmographic filters
Record how many survive.
Find people on survivors
Function plus seniority, capped by company size.
Enrich and verify contacts
Per Waterfall Enrichment.
Compute the funnel
Four numbers. Decide whether this source is worth repeating.
Check your work
- Every row has a resolved, normalized domain
- Non-companies and duplicates are gone
- ICP filters ran before any contact spend
- Contacts are role-matched, not the booth staff
- You have listing → contactable conversion recorded
Where this breaks
Treating a directory list as pre-qualified and skipping the ICP filter is how a 400-company export becomes a 1,200-contact enrichment bill for a list that was never addressable. Category membership is not fit. Filter first — the filter is free and the contact enrichment is the most expensive column you run.
Further automation
Exhibitor lists are published before events. Sourcing the list ahead of the show, enriching it, and having contacts ready with a reason tied to the event itself is a strong, time-bounded play — and the event date gives it a natural window, which most outbound lacks.
Next lesson
03 — Local businesses → personalized email, end to end, the complete small-business campaign.
Reference for this lesson: Import, enrich_organization, find_people_within_company, Find company LinkedIn URL.