Phone numbers for the buying committee

Some conversations should move to the phone. A buyer who replied "interesting, tell me more" is one call away from a meeting, and you don't have their number.

Stage 1 can look it up for you, one person at a time, when you ask.

What it does

Every account on the Board shows its buying committee. The economic buyer, the champion and the technical lead, each with a fit ring around their photo. Under each person's name and title there's a Find phone link.

Tap it and Stage 1 looks for a direct number for that person. If it finds one, the number replaces the link, and on a phone you can tap it to call. If it doesn't, you'll see No number found.

The number stays on the person from then on. Seeing it again never uses another lookup.

How it works

Stage 1 looks the number up from the person's LinkedIn profile, through phone data providers it runs on its own accounts. You don't need a data tool of your own. It tries one provider, and if that misses, the next.

Lookups only happen when you tap. Stage 1 never pulls numbers in bulk or in the background. Every lookup costs money, and most people on a committee you'll reach in writing first.

The person needs a LinkedIn profile link on the account. For someone you added by hand without one, paste their profile link and Find phone shows up.

If no number turns up, Stage 1 won't look for that person again for a month.

The allowance

Phone lookups come with the Team and Partner plans, up to a monthly allowance. Only numbers Stage 1 finds count against it. A miss is free. The allowance resets on the 1st.

Starter and the free trial don't include phone lookups. On those, Find phone doesn't appear.

You can see how many you've used this month under Settings, Ad audiences, on the Phone numbers card. When the month's allowance is used, Find phone tells you so and points to the reset date.

Which person to call

The fit ring is a good guide. Four blue segments is a strong fit, three is good, two fair, one weak. Tap the word under someone's title to see the reasons, like a buying seat or a title senior enough to own budget. A strong fit who replied with interest is the call worth making.

And the warm paths still come first. If someone you know can introduce you, that introduction beats a cold call every time. More on that in warm paths in Stage 1.

Why it matters for a services sale

Senior buyers rarely take a cold call from a firm they've never heard of. They do take a call from someone whose note they just answered. In a services sale, the written hypothesis earns the conversation and the phone closes the gap to a meeting.

That's why Stage 1 treats a number as something you ask for, not something it piles up. You call the few people who've given you a reason to. For when a call helps and when a message does more, see calls or messages for senior buyers. For how a reply becomes a meeting, see replies are where meetings are lost.

Write first. When they answer, have the number ready.