Lockley
Intelligence · Guide · October 2026

How can a small UK B2B team find ten prospects a morning, with evidence?

Pick one or two public-record signals that match what you sell, filter hard, and write one factual line per company. Here is a routine for ten evidenced prospects a day.

Written from Lockley's index and the sources below, updated 10 October 2026.

A small UK B2B team can find ten prospects a morning by choosing one or two public-record signals that match what it sells, filtering them to its sector and size, and writing one factual line per company citing the record. The aim is a short list where every company has a dated reason to be called. This page sets out a routine, and where automation helps.

5,576,889
Active UK companies in the index
counted 5 October 2026
550,929
Companies with a website on record
a count, nothing inferred
674
Significant roles posted, week to 5 October 2026
Adzuna job postings
44
Public contracts awarded, same week
Contracts Finder and Find a Tender

Step one: choose the signal that matches your offer

Match the event to the need. A first hire in a function suggests a company building a team and buying tools. A contract won suggests delivery capacity needed. A contract ending suggests a re-tender. A new site suggests fit-out and services. A change of director suggests new priorities. Pick the one or two where you can say in a sentence why your service fits.

Do not start with everything. The weekly volumes range from 11 funding rounds to 37,637 director changes, so some signals need heavy filtering and others hardly any.

Step two: filter to companies you can serve

Narrow by sector, region and size. A signal without a filter is not a list. Exclude companies you already work with and those you have already contacted. For a team that sells to one sector, a filter is often as simple as the sector's industry codes on Companies House.

Step three: verify each record

Open the filing, the notice or the posting. Check the date, the company and what it says. This takes two minutes per company and prevents the embarrassing call that rests on a misread record. It is also the habit that makes evidence-led selling credible.

Step four: write one line of evidence

For each company write a line a buyer would recognise as true: what happened, when, and the source. Then one sentence on why you are calling. Ten such lines is the morning's work. If you cannot write the line, drop the company.

Step five: call in order of freshness

Fresh records first. A contract awarded this week beats one from last quarter. Aim to reach the company while the event is still being acted on.

Where automation helps

Steps one to four can be done by hand with free sources such as Companies House and Contracts Finder, but they take hours. Lockley does the reading nightly across Companies House, Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, job postings, planning registers and company websites, and sends a 9am email brief with the top three companies in full, with Call, Tomorrow and Pass working from the email. Each finding links to its record. It does not send email on your behalf, and it does not sell contact lists.

Keeping the list honest

Track which signals produce conversations and drop those that do not. Ten prospects a morning is a ceiling for a small team, not a target to hit at any cost. Five well-evidenced calls beat ten weak ones.

Questions

How many prospects should a small team call each morning?

Ten is a workable ceiling. Fewer, well evidenced calls often do better than many unevidenced ones.

Which signal should I start with?

The one you can explain in a sentence. For many teams that is a first hire in a function or a recent contract award.

Do I need paid tools?

No. Companies House and Contracts Finder are free. A tool saves the time of reading them every day.

Does Lockley send emails to prospects for me?

No. It does not send email on the customer's behalf.

How does Lockley start?

With a free scan of your own website, which builds a private page of companies worth calling for you.

SourcesLockley index, figures counted 5 October 2026 · Lockley index, weekly counts, 28 September to 5 October 2026 · Contracts Finder, GOV.UK · Find and update company information, GOV.UK

See which of these companies are worth calling for your business, with the source for each.

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