Sending a great pitch to the wrong person is a common reason outreach stalls. To find decision makers, you need to work backwards: start from the purchase you want to happen, figure out which role owns it, and only then look for a name. This guide shows how to do that step by step, using the company’s own pages, LinkedIn, public registers and a quick check that the person still holds the job.

Once you have a name, the guides linked along the way cover how to get and check their address.

Before you begin

  • A target company (or a short list of them).
  • A one-line description of what you sell and which budget it would come out of.
  • A place to record what you find: company, role, name, where you found them, and the date you checked.

Step 1: Work out what decision you need

“The decision-maker” isn’t a fixed person. It depends on what you’re asking the company to do. Ask yourself:

  • Which team’s work changes if they say yes?
  • Whose budget pays for it?
  • How big is the commitment? A small monthly tool might be approved by a team lead. A company-wide contract usually goes higher.

Write the answer as a role, not a title, for example “the person who runs customer support operations.” Titles vary from company to company, but the responsibility doesn’t.

Step 2: Map the role to likely job titles

Turn that responsibility into a short list of titles you’d expect to see. As a rough guide:

What you sell Roles that usually own it
Sales or prospecting tools Head of sales, sales operations lead, revenue operations lead
Marketing software or services Marketing director, head of growth, demand generation lead
Developer or IT tools Engineering manager, head of IT, CTO at smaller companies
Finance or billing products Finance director, controller, CFO
Hiring or HR services Head of people, talent acquisition lead

Company size changes the answer. At a small business, the founder or managing director often decides almost everything. At a large one, a director or VP inside the relevant function usually owns the budget, and others may need to approve it.

Step 3: Check the company’s own pages

The company website is free and usually accurate about its senior people. For general phone lines and addresses instead, see how to find company contact information.

  • Leadership or “About” pages list founders and senior managers, often with their areas of responsibility.
  • Team pages at smaller companies may show everyone, including the person who runs the area you care about.
  • Press releases and news posts often quote the person in charge of a new initiative, which is a strong hint that they own it.
  • Job postings frequently say who a new hire will report to. A posting for a support specialist that reports to the “Head of Customer Experience” tells you that role exists.

Note each name and the page you found it on.

Step 4: Search LinkedIn by function and seniority

LinkedIn is the main place to fill gaps, because many professionals keep their current title there.

  • Free search: search for the company, open the “People” tab, and filter by keywords such as the function (“support”, “finance”) or the titles from Step 2.
  • Sales Navigator: LinkedIn’s filter definitions describe lead filters for function, current job title and seniority level, plus company filters such as headcount and headquarters location. Filtering by function first, then seniority, tends to find the right person even when their title is unusual.
  • Personas: Sales Navigator also lets you save Personas built around job function, seniority level, title and location. Its Personas FAQ says you can have up to five, two of them provided by default, and that you can filter the Relationship Explorer by Persona to spot decision-makers at an account.

Look beyond the job title. A profile’s “About” section and recent posts often show what the person is actually responsible for.

Step 5: Check public registers and filings

For companies with only a handful of staff, the directors are often the decision-makers. For larger public companies, official filings name the senior executives. Many countries publish this information.

United Kingdom: Companies House is the UK register of companies. Its register guidance says its company data is available free of charge, with no registration needed, and lists current and resigned officers among the details you can search. A company’s overview shows its first 5 officers.

United States: public companies file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC’s Accessing EDGAR Data page explains that these filings go through its EDGAR system and anyone can view them for free. Its guide on how to read a 10-K says the annual report’s Item 10, “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance”, covers the background of directors and executive officers, and that most companies supply this through their proxy statement, which the 10-K then points to. In EDGAR’s list of recent filings, definitive proxy statements appear under the form type DEF 14A. Private US companies generally don’t file these reports.

Other countries have similar business registers. Directors and officers listed there are a starting point, not proof that they handle your type of purchase, so cross-check with Steps 3 and 4.

Step 6: Confirm they’re still in the role

People change jobs often, and an outdated name wastes an email. Before you reach out:

  • Check that the LinkedIn profile still lists the company as the current employer.
  • Look for a recent sign of activity, such as a post, a quote in the news or a conference talk.
  • Compare sources. If the website and LinkedIn disagree, trust the most recently updated one and note the doubt.

Record the date you checked, so you know when to look again.

Step 7: Get their contact details

With a confirmed name and role, you’re ready to find a way to reach them.

If you’re planning a full campaign, the guide to cold email outreach explains how to write the message, follow up and stay within sending limits.

Find decision makers as a group, not one person

Bigger purchases rarely rest on a single yes. It helps to identify a few roles at each account:

  • The budget owner: controls the money and makes the final call.
  • The day-to-day owner: the person whose team would use what you sell. Often the easiest to reach first.
  • The approver: finance, procurement, legal or IT, who check cost, terms or security.
  • The skeptic: someone happy with the current way of doing things. Better to know who they are early.

For a small purchase, one person may play all of these roles. For a large one, each may be a different person.

Common mistakes

  • Aiming only at the CEO. At larger companies, the CEO rarely chooses tools for one team and may just forward your email.
  • Trusting titles alone. “Director” means different things at different companies. Check what the person actually runs.
  • Skipping the user. The day-to-day owner can explain how buying works and introduce you to the budget owner.
  • Using stale data. Always run Step 6 before you reach out.

FAQ

How do I know who the decision-maker is?

Start with the purchase, not the org chart. Work out whose budget pays for what you sell and whose team uses it, then look for the most senior person responsible for that area. When you get a reply, ask how decisions like this are usually made.

Can I find decision makers without paid tools?

Yes. Company websites, press releases, job postings, LinkedIn’s free search, the UK’s Companies House register and the SEC’s EDGAR filings in the US cost nothing. Paid tools mainly save time when you work through many companies.

What if I can only find a junior contact?

Reach out anyway, politely. Ask who handles the area you’re writing about. People often point you to the right colleague, and that introduction can help.

Should I contact more than one person at a company?

For larger purchases, yes, but keep it to a small number of relevant roles and tailor each message. Don’t send the same email to the whole team.

Wrapping up

To find decision makers reliably, define the decision first, translate it into roles, then use the company’s own pages, LinkedIn and public registers or filings to put names to those roles. Confirm each person is current before you contact them, and treat larger deals as a small group rather than a single target. You can also see Email Finder Online pricing.