Key takeaways
- Headquarters and office location give different lists; choose deliberately.
- Region alone is too broad; add industry and headcount.
- Country exclusions keep a list inside what you can sell and support.
- A new region deserves a small, hand-checked first list.
- Find the people after the companies, inside the accounts that fit.
Should you find companies by headquarters or office location
Search by headquarters when the decision is made centrally, and by office location when you sell to local teams. A software purchase for a whole company is usually signed at head office; a facilities or recruitment service may be bought by each site.
The two can differ sharply. A company headquartered in Amsterdam may have its largest team in Lisbon, and your buyer may sit in neither.
How do you build a regional prospect list
Build a regional prospect list by combining the region with industry and headcount, then adding keywords for what the company does. "Logistics companies in the Nordics with a few hundred staff" is a territory; "companies in the Nordics" is a directory.
Keep each list small enough to review. A list you can read in one sitting gets checked; a list of thousands gets trusted blindly.
How do you list companies by country
List companies by country by naming the countries one by one rather than relying on a regional label. "Europe" means different things to different tools; some include the UK and Switzerland, some do not.
Note what changes at each border before you start: language, data protection rules for contacting people, public holidays and whether you can invoice there.
How do country exclusions help when prospecting a new region
Country exclusions keep a new-region list inside the markets you can actually serve. Take an illustrative UK company entering German-speaking Europe: it targets Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and leaves out the rest of the EU until it has German-speaking support and local references.
Exclusions also protect existing work. If a partner covers France, leaving France out stops your team from prospecting into their accounts.
How does regional company search work in Pebbles Ai
In Pebbles Ai you ask the Marketing or Strategy assistant in chat for companies by keyword, HQ country or region, industry and headcount. Each search returns 25 companies by default and up to 50.
From that list, you pick up to ten companies and run Find fresh leads there with a role and a location, optionally narrowing by HQ locations. Leads come from Pebbles Ai's own growing B2B contact database, GDPR compliant.
How to find companies in a region, step by step
Work one region at a time, smallest slice first.
- Decide whether the territory means headquarters, office presence or where the buyer sits.
- Write the region as a list of countries, and note the ones you will leave out.
- Add industry, a headcount range and keywords so the list matches your ideal customer.
- Ask the assistant for companies by keyword, HQ country or region, industry and headcount, up to 50 per search.
- Check the results by hand and remove poor fits.
- Pick up to ten companies and find the right people there with a role and a location.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsDescribe your ideal customer; your assistant finds matching companies, then the right people at up to ten of them. Company search returns up to 50 companies per search.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisBefore you commit to a new market, ask an assistant to research it from public sources, with numbered citations you can check.
Common questions
How many companies can one search return?
In Pebbles Ai, 25 by default and up to 50 per search. Run separate searches for each country or industry slice.
Do I need different outreach for each country?
Usually yes. Language, formality, holidays and the rules on contacting people at work all vary, so adapt the message as well as the list.
Can I email business prospects anywhere in Europe?
Not on the same terms everywhere. GDPR covers the personal data, and each country's own electronic marketing law covers the email itself, so check each country's rules, or take advice, before a campaign.
Should I search several regions at once?
No. One region at a time keeps the list reviewable and lets you adapt the message to each market.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
