Narrowing the field

The steps, in this order

1. Country: where to search, for example “in Hungary” or “in Slovakia and the Czech Republic”.
2. Line of business: what the companies should do, for example “meat processors” or “accounting firms”. A search is most precise for one line of business.
3. Location, if it matters: one or more cities (“in Győr and Sopron”), or a radius (“within 25 kilometres of Győr”). When you search by city, Apex also takes the company's known sites into account, so the local branch of a company headquartered elsewhere is included too; with a radius, each company counts as one point, its site or its address.
4. Who they work for: businesses or private individuals; locally, regionally, nationwide or in international markets.
5. Website signals: a webshop with a basket, the website's language versions, a contact page, a published email address.
6. Exclusions: companies already in your campaigns, ones you have marked with a tag, or a type of company you are not looking for (“no resellers”).
7. Refining in your own words: whatever does not fit the above, for example “only the ones that make things themselves”. Apex checks this for every company.

What tells you more than company size

Most company websites do not state their headcount or revenue, and that number says little about whether they need your offer. So Apex works from what can really be known about a company: what it does, who it sells to, how large an area it operates in, and what its website shows. That a manufacturer also sells in international markets tells you more about it than an estimated headcount. If size does matter after all, ask for what shows it: for larger customers, the companies that work nationwide or in international markets; for smaller ones, the companies that work locally.

Meaning is what counts

Apex looks for what the company does, however it describes it on its website. Describe the activity in your own words, and Apex also finds the companies that describe the same thing differently.

When it is narrow enough

The sample shows you. If most companies in the sample fit, the batches can follow. If few fit, refine with one condition. If hardly any results come up, loosen the condition you added last.