How To Find a Phone Number by Name (in the Least Creepy Way)

For most of you, gone are the days of the Yellow Pages and phonebook – manual ones anyway.

So, how do you get the contact information you need when you only have the name of a prospect and the company they work for to go by? And in a modern age where privacy matters more than ever, how do you not be creepy about it?

When it comes to prospecting, cold sales emails and cold calls both have their pros and cons. Cold emails are often seen as the easier and quicker option for salespeople, but cold calls can be far more effective in getting direct responses.

We look into the ways you can find a phone number by name, in the least creepy way possible:

1) Google search

First up: the classic Google search. Or, if you’re not a Google fan, typing into your search engine of choice.

When trying to find a phone number by name, searching the internet is probably your immediate thought. But you’ll face some issues, mainly down to the fact that the internet – and the world itself – is a big place.

We hate to disappoint, but it’s unlikely you’re the only person in the world with your name. That’s the same for your prospect. Just a quick example: when you google my name, you’ll find the majority of search results are Daily Mail articles about a former participant on Teen Mom. No author pages or bios, and certainly none of my contact details.

The fact of the matter is, this method might take some sifting through search, videos, and images – and you know what that means? T i m e.

If your prospect’s contact details are in the top results when you search their name, ideal. If you’re scrolling through pages and pages to find that all-important phone number, you’re taking up time when you could be talking to more available prospects. Not to mention the more pages you go through, the more invasive it can come across (and no one likes the realization their privacy settings aren’t so tight). And with that…

Creepy factor: 3/10*

*the more pages you search, the higher that number gets

2) Social media search

Another free – but possibly quite creepy – option is social media. Now, this search can be divided between a few social media platforms, with LinkedIn being the most popular as a professional network, but let’s not forget Twitter.

More and more people use social media to stay in touch, so you can find a phone number under their name or in their About sections if they’ve chosen to share it. So, the first step is to check out your prospect’s LinkedIn profile to check for a business phone number.

Not there? Okay fine, check Twitter. Their phone number might be in their bio if you’re lucky, but you can also check past tweets. You might find correspondences between salespeople that had the same idea as you, where your prospect has written something similar to “Let’s talk, (555) 555-1234”.

Again, this could take some serious snooping if your prospect isn’t offering up their number in their bio. So for that, we award this method with a…

Creepy factor: 9/10

3) Lead Generator tool

Okay, so this isn’t an entirely free method, but with Similarweb Sales Intelligence, you can get all your ideal prospects’ contact details – as well as other contacts and decision-makers at the company – and download them straight into HubSpot or Salesforce in just a couple of clicks.

Easy, breezy, and not sleazy.

It’s a platform made for sales professionals like you, to make your lead generation and prospecting processes more efficient – and more effective. 💰

And the best bit is that it doesn’t just stop there. You’ll have access to a database of over 100 million companies and their data, 480 million contacts, and a huge amount of insights that will perfect your outreach and communications from now on. Do with that what you will, folks.

OR… we’ll tell you what to do:

1. Go use our Lead Generator tool to create your list of ideal prospects
2. Download your list of ideal contacts
3. Make the most of our Insights Generator to fill your outreach with numbers and facts your prospects actually care about
4. Set up alerts with Sales Signals to signpost upsell and cross-sell opportunities
5. And last but definitely not least: go and win more deals (in the least creepy way possible) 🏆

Creepy factor: 0/10

Less stalking, more talking☎️

If you’re keen to avoid Netflix basing their next eight-episode series on you and your stalking ability (You got pretty repetitive anyway), take the least creepy option.

If you’re also struggling to find email addresses, we can help you out there too – check out the best (non-creepy) ways to find an email address for your prospect.

Sign up to Similarweb Sales Intelligence and, not only get the contact details of your prospects in the easiest and least invasive way possible, but make the most of all the features to make your sales cycle way more efficient.

by Leah Messenger

Senior Content Marketing Manager

Leah is a Senior Content Marketing Manager with a passion for turning complex topics into engaging, educational content.