Short answer
A spreadsheet and a register search are enough to build a small leadlist once. They are the wrong tools for a list of hundreds, for a segment defined by several conditions at once, or for a list that must still be right in three months. The honest comparison is not features. It is hours, errors and decay.
What manual research really involves
For each company on the list you do the same sequence: find it, confirm it is active, note what it does, note its size, find who runs it, find a way to reach them, and paste all of that into a row. Each step is quick. Together they take minutes, and they have to be done hundreds of times without a slip.
A realistic pace is a handful of minutes per company. That makes a 200-company list two or three working days. A 1,000-company list is weeks, which in practice means it never gets finished.
Where spreadsheets fail
- You cannot filter what you have not collected. To find companies with 10 to 50 employees and rising turnover, you first have to look up employees and turnover for every candidate. The filtering is the research.
- Duplicates creep in. The same company under a trading name and a legal name becomes two rows, and gets two emails.
- Typing errors are invisible. A registry code with two digits swapped still looks like a registry code.
- Nothing updates. The list is a photograph. A company deleted last month is still there, looking exactly as healthy as the others.
- It cannot be repeated. Next quarter's list means doing all of it again.
Where a spreadsheet is the right tool
Manual research wins in three situations. When the list is small: twenty named accounts deserve an hour each, not a filter. When the criteria are a matter of judgement: "companies that would suit our pilot" is not a query. And at the end of any process: whatever built the list, the last pass, reading each company before you write to it, is always done by a person.
The spreadsheet itself is also not the problem. It is a fine place to work on a list. The problem is using it to gather the list in the first place.
What changes with a filter-based tool
- Filtering comes first. You state the conditions and see the count immediately, then adjust. The segment is designed before any time is spent on rows.
- Every row has a registry code. Duplicates and mismatches disappear, and the list joins cleanly to a CRM.
- Facts come from the register. Size, industry, status and financials are not typed by anyone.
- It can be repeated. The same filters run again next quarter give you what is new.
A fair comparison
Take the same task both ways: active companies in Pärnu county in accommodation and food service, with at least five employees. By hand, that means searching the register by activity and place, opening each result, checking status and employees, and discarding most of them. In the leadlist builder it is three filters and a count. The manual version takes a day and misses companies whose activity code was not the one you searched. The filtered version takes minutes and its gaps are visible, because you can widen the filter and see what appears.
What the tool does not do is decide who is worth contacting. That remains your judgement, and it is where the time you saved should go.
A sensible way to combine them
- Build the segment with filters and look at the count.
- Order the list. It is delivered by email.
- Read through it by hand and remove what does not fit.
- Add your own columns: priority, notes, owner.
- Rebuild from the same filters when you need a fresh version.
Common mistakes
Counting manual research as free because nobody invoices for it. Reusing last year's spreadsheet without re-checking status. And over-correcting: buying a tool and then skipping the read-through that catches what filters cannot.
FAQ
Can I build a leadlist for Estonia in a spreadsheet?
Yes. The register is public and you can look companies up one by one. It works for a small, one-off list. It stops working when the list is large, needs filters the register search does not offer, or has to be kept current.
How long does manual company research take?
Plan for several minutes per company to find it, confirm it is active, note size and industry and find a contact. A list of 200 companies is roughly two to three working days, before any cleaning.
What is the biggest risk of a spreadsheet leadlist?
It goes out of date without telling you. Nothing in a spreadsheet changes when a company is deleted, moves or changes its board, so the list gets quietly worse from the day it is finished.
When is a spreadsheet the better choice?
When the list is small, the segment is one you know personally, and you will use it once. For twenty hand-picked accounts, careful manual research beats any tool.
