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How Our Clients Use Data Search To Grow Their Business | Company Watch

Written by Steve Savage | Apr 3, 2024 2:45:35 PM

 

We’ve just re-launched our new and improved Data Search tool. Data Search is a precision targeting tool helping our clients to:

  • Elevate their B2B strategy
  • Unlock invaluable insights 
  • Weed out high-risk companies 
  • Grow their businesses with confidence

Our clients, including some of the biggest banks in the UK, use Data Search to:

  • Create highly targeted sales prospect lists
  • Save time and money trawling through Companies House 
  • Gain an accurate picture of the risk posed by a company

Let’s do a deep dive into this unique and powerful tool and find out how it gives our clients an edge. 

 

How Data Search can help during economic downturn

The shaky economic landscape we’ve been experiencing in the UK for the past few years makes growing your business tricky.

During times of instability, heightened risk is inevitable. 2023 was overshadowed by uncertainty in the market, and this looks set to continue throughout 2024. In January, there were 8,089 individual insolvencies and 1,769 registered company insolvencies - a 5% increase from January 2023. Fraud continues to be a thorn in the side of the UK economy, costing more than £200 billion annually. 

Cutting out high-risk companies from your prospecting lists might seem obvious, but spotting them isn’t always easy.

You need to know that the companies you work with won’t jeopardise your business. With over 5 million registered companies in the UK, growing at a rate of 500,000 per year, this is easier said than done. So, how can you find your ideal clients in this vast business landscape?

 

Uncover opportunities with our powerful search tool 

Data Search is one of the most advanced search tools on the market. It allows you to filter and refine the entire Companies House database based on your specific criteria.

You can uncover business opportunities with confidence while weeding out risk. This user-friendly and highly configurable tool will not only supercharge your prospecting, you can also unlock crucial insights for conducting due diligence, market research or competitor analysis. 

 

 

 

Key features of Data Search 

 
Search Builder 

The Search Builder function uses filters and segmentation to narrow down the millions of businesses on our database. You can build a list of leads in seconds, by tailoring your search based on your own custom criteria. The filters are grouped into various areas, including:

  • Company Type
  • Company Info 
  • Accounts 
  • Activity 
  • Charges 
  • People 
  • Location 
  • Events 

Each of these filters drops down into even more granular queries allowing for precise searching. Data Search uses live data, so as you add more filters the information updates in real time. As you continue to filter and segment your data, the process will become increasingly more manageable as you narrow down your ideal companies to a workable list.

 
H-Score®

Data Search filters companies using our market-leading financial health scoring system H-Score®. A company’s financial health is measured by analysing its financial position from various angles. This includes asset funding, liquidity, working capital management and profit management. 

The H-Score® is based on how similar a company’s accounts are to failed businesses and predicts the likelihood of financial distress. Scores are between 0 and 100, and any company with a score of 25 or under is placed in our Warning Area. The vast majority of companies that go on to collapse were in our Warning Area beforehand. 

This powerful tool can help you weed out high-risk companies when using Data Search to prospect for new clients. 

 
Portfolios

You can access your portfolios built inside the Company Watch Platform and filter them in Data Search.

You can then use the Data Search Dashboard to create visualisations of your entire portfolio. You can view aggregated data in easily digestible charts and tables, then download them for offline analysis or presentation to colleagues and stakeholders. 

 

Search results and saved searches

You can easily download prepared searches onto your local network and utilise pre-set output layout options (Output Packs) for efficient data handling. You can also access and restore searches that you’ve saved in the Data Search tool to generate an updated company count. 

 

Download detailed data 

You can download your search results into CSV or Text format for an even more comprehensive analysis at the individual company level. 

 

How Data Search can support business growth 

Many of our clients, including major banks, have used Data Search to find new opportunities in uncertain times. This unique tool has helped our clients to get an edge on the competition by helping them find new business while mitigating risk.

Here are some of the ways our clients leverage this tool: 

  • Business development teams use Data Search to compile lists of highly-targeted leads that are chosen based on specific company criteria. The Search Builder function allows for precision filtering.

  • Our clients use Data Search to monitor their customers by filtering portfolios to flag early warning distress events, including winding up petitions and administrative notices. 

  • Our clients can use Data Search to determine if a company has any negative history that might affect their business. They filter using adverse event queries to flag things like CCJ’s over specific time periods. 

  • When building a list of potential leads, Data Search allows our clients to detect indicators of financial distress with our H-Score®. They then remove these risky companies from consideration. For example, ‘‘zombie companies’ that are surviving on low interest debts will have a high likelihood of insolvency in 2024 with ongoing higher interest rates.

  • Our clients use the filter function to eliminate any companies with late filings notices. The tool will issue an alert if there is a change of accounting reference date.

  • Data Search allows our clients to filter based on specific financial criteria, including things like turnover, net worth and P&L statements. 

Your days of trawling through endless data on Companies House are over. Data Search gives you detailed data at your fingertips in seconds. This tool is a game changer when it comes to finding new clients, mitigating risk and growing your business.

Ready to win more business with precision targeting in 2024?  Get in touch to explore all of the features and capabilities of the most powerful tool on the market.