How to Build a Business Energy Prospect List

A well-targeted business energy prospect list can help energy brokers identify companies that are more likely to have significant commercial electricity or gas requirements and reach the people responsible for those contracts.

Rather than building the largest possible database, the objective should be to identify businesses that match the type of customers your brokerage wants to win.

Useful targeting criteria can include:

• Industry
• Employee numbers
• Turnover
• Geography
• Type of premises
• Number of locations
• Likely energy requirements
• Decision-maker
• Contract renewal timing

Combining several of these criteria can create a much stronger prospect list than simply targeting businesses based on size or location.

Start with Your Ideal Energy Customer

Before building your prospect list, define what a good customer looks like.

Consider:

• Which industries you want to target
• Typical company size
• Minimum turnover
• Geographic coverage
• Type of premises
• Single-site or multi-site
• Likely electricity requirements
• Likely gas requirements
• Potential contract value

For example, an energy broker might decide to target manufacturers with 50+ employees operating substantial production facilities.

Another might focus on multi-site hotels, care groups or retailers.

Your ideal customer profile provides the foundation for the rest of the list.

Analyse Your Existing Customers

Existing customers can provide useful information about the types of businesses worth targeting.

Review your strongest accounts by:

• Industry
• Employee numbers
• Turnover
• Number of sites
• Type of premises
• Energy requirements
• Contract value
• Profitability
• Length of relationship

Look for patterns among your most valuable customers.

You can then use those characteristics to identify similar businesses.

Choose the Right Industries

Industry is one of the most useful starting points when building a business energy prospect list.

Potential sectors include:

• Manufacturing
• Food manufacturing
• Engineering
• Hospitality
• Care homes
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Wholesale
• Warehousing
• Transport and logistics
• Leisure
• Automotive
• Property
• Agriculture

The best industries will depend on the type of commercial energy customers your brokerage wants to attract.

Look for Energy-Intensive Business Activities

Industry classifications don’t always tell you how much energy a company might use.

Consider the activities taking place within the business.

Potential indicators include:

• Manufacturing
• Production
• Refrigeration
• Cold storage
• Commercial cooking
• Heating
• Cooling
• Heavy machinery
• Automated warehousing
• Extended operating hours
• 24-hour operations

These characteristics can help identify potentially stronger prospects within a broader industry.

Consider the Type of Premises

Commercial premises can provide useful clues about potential energy requirements.

Relevant sites might include:

• Factories
• Warehouses
• Distribution centres
• Hotels
• Care homes
• Commercial kitchens
• Workshops
• Leisure centres
• Large retail stores
• Production facilities

A manufacturer operating a substantial factory is likely to have a very different energy profile from a consultancy operating from a small office.

Premises should therefore form part of your targeting criteria where possible.

Target Multi-Site Businesses

Businesses operating multiple locations can be particularly interesting prospects for energy brokers.

Potential examples include:

• Hotel groups
• Care home groups
• Retail chains
• Restaurant groups
• Automotive dealer groups
• Leisure operators
• Logistics businesses
• Property companies

These organisations may have multiple energy contracts and more complex procurement requirements.

The total opportunity across several locations can also be considerably greater than an individual site.

Use Employee Numbers

Employee numbers can help refine your prospect audience.

Possible bands include:

• 10 to 19 employees
• 20 to 49 employees
• 50 to 99 employees
• 100 to 249 employees
• 250+ employees

The right threshold will depend on your target market.

However, employee numbers shouldn’t be treated as a direct indication of energy consumption.

A highly automated manufacturing company could use substantial amounts of energy despite having relatively few employees.

Use Turnover

Turnover can provide another useful indicator of business scale.

Potential filters might include:

• �1 million+ turnover
• �5 million+ turnover
• �10 million+ turnover
• �50 million+ turnover

Turnover works best when combined with industry and other business characteristics.

For example, targeting �10 million+ manufacturers may produce a very different prospect audience from targeting every UK company with turnover above �10 million.

Add Geographic Targeting

If your brokerage focuses on particular parts of the UK, add location criteria.

You could target by:

• Country
• Region
• County
• Town or city
• Postcode area

National energy brokers may still benefit from geographic segmentation.

For example, separate regional lists can be allocated to different salespeople or used to test campaign performance.

Identify the Right Decision-Makers

Once you’ve identified the right businesses, you need the people responsible for commercial energy decisions.

Potential contacts include:

• Business Owners
• Managing Directors
• Finance Directors
• Financial Controllers
• Operations Directors
• Procurement Directors
• Procurement Managers
• Facilities Directors
• Facilities Managers
• Estates Managers
• Energy Managers
• Sustainability Managers

The most relevant contact will depend on company size and structure.

Match Decision-Makers to Company Size

Smaller companies may not have dedicated Procurement, Facilities or Energy departments.

Smaller Businesses

Potential contacts include:

• Business Owner
• Managing Director

Medium-Sized Businesses

Potential contacts include:

• Managing Director
• Finance Director
• Financial Controller
• Operations Director
• Facilities Manager

Larger Businesses

Potential contacts include:

• Finance Director
• Procurement Director
• Procurement Manager
• Facilities Director
• Estates Manager
• Energy Manager
• Sustainability Manager

Matching job roles to company size can help improve contact relevance.

Match Decision-Makers to Industry

The best contact can also vary by sector.

For example:

Manufacturing

Potential contacts:

• Finance Director
• Operations Director
• Procurement Manager
• Energy Manager

Hotels

Potential contacts:

• Finance Director
• Procurement Manager
• Facilities Manager
• Estates Manager

Care Groups

Potential contacts:

• Finance Director
• Operations Director
• Procurement Manager
• Estates Manager

Logistics

Potential contacts:

• Finance Director
• Operations Director
• Procurement Manager
• Facilities Manager

This creates more precise prospect lists than using the same job title across every industry.

Include Useful Prospect Data

A business energy prospect list can include:

• Business name
• Contact name
• Job title
• Email
• Telephone number
• Postal address
• Website
• Industry
• Employee numbers
• Turnover
• Postcode

Additional qualification information can then be added as your sales team engages with each business.

Add Energy-Specific Qualification Fields

Your initial B2B data provides the foundation.

Your sales team can gradually enrich each record with energy-specific information such as:

• Energy decision-maker confirmed
• Electricity contract renewal
• Gas contract renewal
• Current supplier
• Existing energy broker
• Number of sites
• Estimated usage
• Meter information
• Last contact date
• Next follow-up date

This can turn a general prospect list into a much more valuable sales database.

Segment Your Prospect List

Avoid putting every prospect into one campaign.

Create smaller groups based on shared characteristics.

Examples include:

• Manufacturers with 100+ employees
• Food manufacturers with 50+ employees
• Multi-site hotel groups
• Care home operators
• Warehousing businesses
• Logistics companies
• Multi-site retailers

Each segment can then receive more relevant messaging.

Build Lists Around Specific Industries

Industry-specific lists can make campaign planning easier.

For example:

Manufacturing Prospect List

Filters could include:

• Manufacturing businesses
• 50+ employees
• �5 million+ turnover
• UK
• Finance Directors and Operations Directors

Hotel Prospect List

Filters could include:

• Hotels
• Larger businesses
• Multi-site operators
• Finance and Facilities contacts

Care Home Prospect List

Filters could include:

• Care homes
• Nursing homes
• Multi-site operators
• Finance and Operations contacts

These audiences can then be approached separately.

Build Lists Around Energy Characteristics

You can also create prospect lists around characteristics associated with energy requirements.

For example:

• Businesses using refrigeration
• Businesses operating factories
• Businesses operating warehouses
• Businesses with commercial kitchens
• Multi-site organisations
• Businesses operating 24 hours
• Companies with substantial commercial premises

Some of this information may require additional research or qualification, but it can help improve prospect quality.

Prioritise Likely High-Energy Users

Once your initial list has been built, create a simple prioritisation system.

Higher Priority

Businesses with several strong indicators:

• Energy-intensive industry
• Larger premises
• Multiple sites
• Suitable company size
• Significant operational activity

Medium Priority

Businesses that fit your general customer profile but require further qualification.

Lower Priority

Businesses meeting broad criteria but showing fewer indications of substantial energy requirements.

This allows sales teams to concentrate more effort on potentially valuable accounts.

Identify Contract Renewal Dates

A good business energy prospect list becomes considerably more valuable when contract timing is added.

Where possible, establish:

• Electricity renewal date
• Gas renewal date
• Current supplier
• Existing broker
• Next contract review

A business may be an excellent prospect but have recently signed a new contract.

Rather than removing it from your database, record the renewal timing and schedule future contact.

Build a Renewal Pipeline

Prospects can be grouped according to contract timing.

For example:

• Renewal within three months
• Renewal within six months
• Renewal within 12 months
• Longer-term opportunity
• Renewal unknown

This creates a structured pipeline of future opportunities.

As more renewal information is collected, the prospect database can become increasingly valuable.

Use Telemarketing to Enrich Your List

Telephone outreach can help fill gaps that aren’t available within standard B2B data.

Calls can help establish:

• Correct energy decision-maker
• Number of sites
• Current supplier
• Existing broker
• Contract renewal timing
• Whether the business would consider alternatives

This allows prospects to be qualified and moved into appropriate segments.

Use LinkedIn for Contact Research

LinkedIn can help identify relevant contacts within important accounts.

This is particularly useful for larger businesses where several departments may be involved.

Potential teams to research include:

• Finance
• Procurement
• Operations
• Facilities
• Estates
• Energy
• Sustainability

LinkedIn can also help identify changes in responsibility when employees move roles.

Target More Than One Contact Within Important Accounts

For higher-value businesses, consider including several relevant contacts.

For example:

• Finance Director + Procurement Manager
• Operations Director + Finance Director
• Facilities Director + Procurement Manager
• Energy Manager + Finance Director

This can help identify who actually owns the contract and who influences the decision.

Build Lookalike Prospect Lists

Use your strongest customers as a model for future prospecting.

For example, if your best customers are:

• Food manufacturers
• 50 to 250 employees
• �10 million+ turnover
• Operating production facilities

build a list of similar UK food manufacturers.

You can repeat this process across several customer groups.

Avoid Building a List That Is Too Broad

A list of every UK business may provide volume but very little focus.

Instead of targeting:

“UK businesses”

consider targeting:

“UK manufacturers with 50+ employees”

or:

“Multi-site hotel groups”

or:

“Food manufacturers with �5 million+ turnover”

This gives your campaign a clearer audience and proposition.

Don’t Make Your Targeting Too Narrow

There is also a risk of applying so many filters that the available market becomes unnecessarily small.

Start with the criteria most closely connected to customer value.

These might be:

• Industry
• Company size
• Business activity
• Number of sites
• Decision-maker

Additional qualification can then happen during outreach.

Use Your Prospect List Across Multiple Channels

A strong business energy prospect list can support several forms of business development.

These include:

• Cold email
• Telemarketing
• LinkedIn
• Direct mail

For example, a business could receive an introductory email followed by a telephone call to establish the correct decision-maker and contract renewal date.

LinkedIn could then provide an additional way to maintain contact.

Keep Prospect Data Current

Businesses change constantly.

People leave companies, job roles change, businesses move premises and organisations open or close locations.

Regularly review:

• Contact details
• Job titles
• Company status
• Websites
• Telephone numbers
• Business size
• Next contact dates

Maintaining your prospect database helps protect the value of the work you’ve invested in building it.

Measure Results by Prospect Segment

Track which parts of your list generate the strongest commercial outcomes.

Compare:

• Industries
• Employee bands
• Turnover bands
• Single-site vs multi-site
• Decision-maker roles
• Geographic areas

Useful measures include:

• Decision-makers reached
• Renewal dates identified
• Qualified opportunities
• Quotes
• Contracts won
• Customer value

This helps you identify which targeting criteria actually produce results.

Refine the List Over Time

Your first prospect list doesn’t need to be perfect.

Use campaign results to improve it.

If multi-site manufacturers consistently generate stronger opportunities, increase your focus on similar businesses.

If a particular sector produces poor results, investigate whether the issue is:

• The industry
• Company size
• Decision-maker
• Messaging
• Timing
• Your proposition

The strongest prospect databases evolve using information generated by real sales activity.

You can learn more about our Lead Generation for Energy Brokers services.

Summary

A strong business energy prospect list should contain businesses that match the type of commercial energy customers your brokerage wants to win.

Start with industry, company size, turnover, geography, premises and number of locations. Then identify the relevant Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Directors, Procurement Managers, Facilities Managers and other decision-makers.

Where possible, enrich the database with energy-specific information such as contract renewal dates, current suppliers and existing broker relationships.

By segmenting, qualifying and continually refining your prospect data, you can build a more useful database for cold email, telemarketing, LinkedIn and longer-term energy broker business development.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a business energy prospect list include?

Useful information can include business name, contact name, job title, email, telephone, address, website, industry, employee numbers, turnover and postcode.

Which businesses should energy brokers include in a prospect list?

Potential targets include manufacturers, food producers, hotels, care homes, warehouses, logistics companies, retailers and other businesses with significant or multi-site energy requirements.

How can energy brokers identify higher-value prospects?

Industry, premises, employee numbers, turnover, number of locations and business activity can help indicate potentially stronger commercial energy opportunities.

Which decision-makers should be included?

Relevant contacts can include Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Directors, Operations Directors, Procurement Managers, Facilities Managers, Estates Managers and Energy Managers.

Should contract renewal dates be included?

Where available, yes. Electricity and gas renewal dates can help sales teams prioritise prospects and schedule outreach at more appropriate times.

Can telemarketing improve a business energy prospect list?

Yes. Telephone research can help confirm decision-makers, contract renewal dates, existing supplier arrangements and other qualification information.

How should an energy prospect list be segmented?

Useful segments can include industry, company size, turnover, number of sites, likely energy requirements, decision-maker and contract renewal timing.

Data & Lead Generation Services

RD Marketing provides bespoke B2B data lists and fully managed lead generation services to help businesses build pipeline and drive revenue growth. These include:

• Automated Email Campaigns
• LinkedIn Automation
• Industry Databases
• Job Role Databases
• Email Lists
• Telemarketing Data
• Direct Mail Data

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