TL;DR
The Minimum Viable Dataset for B2B prospecting is the smallest set of data points that enables effective outbound sales. Tier 1 (must-have): verified work email, full name, current job title, and company name. Tier 2 (should-have): direct phone, company size, industry, and seniority. Everything else is optional until you prove you need it.
Every sales team hoards data. More fields, more providers, more spreadsheets.
Most of it goes unused.
Here is the uncomfortable truth: 80% of the data in your CRM never influences a single outreach decision. You are paying for fields no one reads, enriching records that sit untouched, and drowning reps in noise.
The fix is not more data. It is the right data. The minimum set of fields that actually moves prospects through your pipeline.
We call this the Minimum Viable Dataset.
What Is a Minimum Viable Dataset?
A Minimum Viable Dataset (MVD) is the smallest collection of prospecting data points that enables effective outbound sales. It answers three questions for every prospect: Can I reach them (contact data), should I reach them (fit data), and what should I say (context data). Any data point that does not help answer one of those three questions does not belong in the MVD.
The Minimum Viable Dataset (MVD) is the smallest collection of prospecting data points that enables effective outbound sales. Not the maximum you could collect. Not everything your data provider offers. The minimum that drives results.
Think of it like an MVP for product teams. You ship the smallest thing that works, then add based on evidence. Same principle applies to sales data.
The MVD answers three questions for every prospect:
- Can I reach them? (contact data)
- Should I reach them? (fit data)
- What should I say? (context data)
If a data point does not help answer one of those three questions, it does not belong in your MVD.
The Three Tiers of Prospecting Data
Not all data points are created equal. Some are non-negotiable. Others help but are not critical. A few are luxuries that only matter at scale.
Here is the full framework.
Table 1: The Minimum Viable Dataset
| Tier | Data Point | Why It Matters | Typical Accuracy | Where to Get It |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 - Must Have | Verified work email | Primary outreach channel, must be deliverable | 92-98% with verification | Waterfall enrichment across 15+ providers |
| Tier 1 - Must Have | Full name | Personalization baseline, can not send without it | 99%+ | Any contact database or LinkedIn |
| Tier 1 - Must Have | Job title | Determines relevance and messaging angle | 85-92% | LinkedIn, enrichment providers |
| Tier 1 - Must Have | Company name | Account-level targeting and research | 99%+ | Any source, easy to validate |
| Tier 1 - Must Have | Company size | Core ICP filter for segmentation | 80-90% | Firmographic providers, enrichment |
| Tier 2 - Should Have | Direct phone | Enables multi-channel, 3x connect rate | 40-65% | Waterfall enrichment |
| Tier 2 - Should Have | LinkedIn URL | Social selling, research, connection requests | 90-95% | Enrichment, Sales Navigator |
| Tier 2 - Should Have | Industry | Vertical-specific messaging and prioritization | 85-92% | Firmographic enrichment |
| Tier 2 - Should Have | Company revenue | Budget qualification, deal sizing | 60-75% | Firmographic providers |
| Tier 2 - Should Have | Seniority level | Routes messaging tone - exec vs. manager | 80-90% | Title parsing, enrichment |
| Tier 3 - Nice to Have | Technologies used | Competitive displacement, integration hooks | 70-85% | Technographic providers |
| Tier 3 - Nice to Have | Funding stage | Buying capacity signal, growth indicator | 75-90% for funded companies | Crunchbase, PitchBook, enrichment |
| Tier 3 - Nice to Have | Recent news/triggers | Timely personalization, relevance boost | Varies by source | News APIs, intent providers |
| Tier 3 - Nice to Have | Buying intent signals | Prioritizes active buyers over passive contacts | 50-70% | Intent data platforms |
| Tier 3 - Nice to Have | Department budget | Qualification, objection handling | 30-50% (often estimated) | Annual reports, enrichment |
Tier 1 is non-negotiable. Without these five fields, you can not run outbound at all. Tier 2 significantly improves results. Tier 3 provides an edge at scale but is not worth delaying outreach to collect.
Why More Data Is Not Always Better
There is a natural instinct to collect everything. If some data is good, more must be better.
The data says otherwise.
Diminishing returns on enrichment
Each additional data point costs money to acquire, time to process, and attention to use. After the first 10 fields, the marginal value of each new field drops sharply.
A rep who has a verified email, correct title, and company size can write a relevant email in 2 minutes. Give that same rep 30 fields per prospect, and they spend 10 minutes processing information before writing the same email.
Analysis paralysis kills velocity
SDRs with too much data overthink. They spend 15 minutes researching each prospect instead of reaching out. The research feels productive but does not produce pipeline.
The best SDR teams operate on constraints. Enough data to be relevant, not so much that they stall.
Cost compounds quickly
Most enrichment providers charge per data point or per record. Enriching 10 fields across 5,000 contacts is dramatically cheaper than enriching 30 fields. And if your reps only use 10 of those 30 fields, the other 20 are wasted spend.
The ROI of Each Data Tier
We analyzed outreach performance across thousands of campaigns to measure the impact of each data tier.
Table 2: ROI by Data Tier
| Tier | Avg. Cost per Record | Reply Rate Improvement | Meeting Rate Improvement | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 only | $0.03-0.10 | Baseline | Baseline | Solo founders, early-stage teams (1-3 reps) |
| Tier 1 + Tier 2 | $0.15-0.40 | +40-60% vs. Tier 1 alone | +50-80% vs. Tier 1 alone | Growth-stage teams (4-15 reps) |
| Tier 1 + 2 + 3 | $0.50-1.50 | +10-20% vs. Tier 1+2 | +15-25% vs. Tier 1+2 | Enterprise teams (15+ reps), ABM programs |
The jump from Tier 1 to Tier 1+2 is dramatic. Reply rates improve 40-60% because you unlock multi-channel outreach (phone), better segmentation (industry, revenue), and sharper targeting (seniority).
The jump from Tier 1+2 to all three tiers is modest. You see incremental gains, but the cost per record triples or more. Worth it for enterprise teams running ABM. Overkill for a 5-person SDR team doing velocity outbound.
Start lean. Add tiers when the data justifies the cost.
The Data Quality Hierarchy
Here is a principle most teams get wrong: accuracy matters more than completeness.
A record with 5 verified fields outperforms a record with 15 unverified fields. Every time.
The hierarchy
- Verified data - confirmed accurate through validation (email verification, phone check)
- Enriched data - sourced from multiple providers via waterfall enrichment, cross-referenced for accuracy
- Sourced data - pulled from a single provider, not cross-checked
- Inferred data - guessed based on patterns (email pattern matching, title inference)
- Stale data - was accurate at some point, but not validated recently
Most sales databases mix all five levels without distinguishing between them. Reps treat a guessed email the same as a verified one. The result: bounces, wrong contacts, damaged sender reputation.
Rule of thumb: A smaller dataset of verified data will always outperform a larger dataset of unverified data. Invest in accuracy before investing in volume.
How to Build Your Minimum Viable Dataset
Building your MVD follows four steps. Each step maps to a specific capability.
Step 1: Define your ICP
You can not build the right dataset if you do not know who you are targeting.
Your Ideal Customer Profile defines the companies and people worth pursuing. It determines which Tier 2 and Tier 3 fields matter for your specific motion.
For example:
- If you sell to startups, funding stage moves from Tier 3 to Tier 2
- If you sell to enterprises, company revenue and department budget become critical
- If you run ABM, technologies used and intent signals justify the Tier 3 investment
Define your ICP first. Then select your MVD based on what your ICP requires. Not the other way around.
Step 2: Source your initial list
Start with names and companies. People Search lets you find prospects matching your ICP criteria - title, industry, company size, geography - and pull them into your workspace in minutes.
You do not need perfect data at this stage. You need the right people. Accuracy comes in the next step.
If you already have a list, import your CSV. The starting point does not matter. What matters is that you have names and companies that match your ICP. See how to build 100 verified leads in 5 minutes for a step-by-step walkthrough.
Step 3: Enrich to fill gaps
This is where your MVD comes together.
Waterfall enrichment takes your raw list and fills in every field across your defined tiers. Instead of querying one provider (and accepting their gaps), waterfall cascades through 15+ sources:
- Provider A finds the email but not the phone
- Provider B finds the phone but not the industry
- Provider C confirms the email is deliverable
The result: a complete, verified record across all Tier 1 and Tier 2 fields for 85-95% of your list. Single-source enrichment typically covers 50-70%.
Step 4: Score for fit
Not every enriched record deserves outreach. ICP Scoring ranks each prospect against your ideal customer criteria and assigns a fit score.
Work your list in priority order:
- Score 80+: Outreach immediately with full personalization
- Score 50-79: Include in sequences, standard personalization
- Score below 50: Deprioritize or exclude entirely
Scoring prevents the common mistake of treating all enriched records equally. A verified email at a bad-fit company is still a wasted email.
Dataset Requirements by Outbound Channel
Different channels demand different data. A cold email needs an email address. A cold call needs a phone number. Obvious - but most teams do not plan their dataset around their channel strategy.
Table 3: Required Data Points by Channel
| Data Point | Cold Email | Cold Call | LinkedIn Outreach | Multi-Channel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verified work email | Required | Not needed | Not needed | Required |
| Full name | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| Job title | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| Company name | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| Company size | Recommended | Recommended | Recommended | Required |
| Direct phone | Not needed | Required | Not needed | Required |
| LinkedIn URL | Not needed | Not needed | Required | Required |
| Industry | Recommended | Helpful | Recommended | Required |
| Seniority level | Helpful | Recommended | Helpful | Recommended |
| Recent triggers | Helpful | Very helpful | Helpful | Recommended |
Key insight: Multi-channel outreach - the highest-performing approach - requires the most complete dataset. If your outbound strategy relies on email plus phone plus LinkedIn, you need Tier 1 and most of Tier 2 to execute effectively.
Teams running email-only can operate on Tier 1 alone. But email-only outreach also has the lowest reply rates. The channel strategy and the data strategy are inseparable.
Common Mistakes With Prospecting Data
Mistake 1: Over-enriching before outreach
Spending weeks building the "perfect" dataset while competitors are already in your prospects' inboxes. Tier 1 data is enough to start. Enrich to Tier 2 in parallel with your first campaign, not before it.
Mistake 2: Under-enriching and burning leads
Sending to unverified emails because "we already have a list." Every bounce damages your sender reputation. A 10% bounce rate can take months to recover from. Verify first. Always.
Mistake 3: Treating all fields as equally important
Spending the same budget on Tier 3 intent signals as on Tier 1 email verification. Verified email is worth 10x more than a funding stage field. Allocate spend accordingly.
Mistake 4: Enriching once and never again
B2B data decays at 2-3% per month. The verified email from January might bounce in July. Re-enrich and re-verify quarterly at minimum. Monthly is better for high-volume teams.
Mistake 5: No feedback loop
You enrich data, run campaigns, and never check which fields actually influenced outcomes. Track which data points correlate with replies and meetings. Drop fields that do not contribute. Double down on ones that do.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum data I need to start outbound?
Five fields: verified work email, full name, job title, company name, and company size. These are Tier 1 - the absolute minimum for effective cold outreach. You can start campaigns with just these. Add Tier 2 fields as budget and time allow.
How accurate does my data need to be?
For emails, aim for 95%+ verification rate. Anything below 90% will damage your sender reputation. For other fields like job title and company size, 85%+ accuracy is acceptable. The key is knowing which records are verified and which are not - and treating them differently in your outreach.
Should I buy a list or build my own?
Build your own. Purchased lists decay fast, are shared with competitors, and rarely match your specific ICP. Use People Search to source contacts that match your exact criteria, then enrich with waterfall enrichment for verified data. It costs less and performs better.
How often should I re-enrich my prospect data?
Quarterly for your active outreach lists. Monthly for high-priority accounts. Before every major campaign regardless of schedule. B2B contact data decays at roughly 22.5% per year - that means one in five records goes stale every 12 months.
What is the difference between enrichment and verification?
Verification checks if an email address is deliverable - does the mailbox exist? Enrichment fills in missing data fields - phone number, company size, industry. You need both. Verification without enrichment gives you deliverable but incomplete records. Enrichment without verification gives you complete but potentially undeliverable records. Waterfall enrichment does both in one step.
Stop hoarding data your sales team will never use. Start with the Minimum Viable Dataset - five verified fields that enable outreach - and expand based on evidence, not assumptions. Source prospects with People Search, enrich with waterfall enrichment, score with ICP Scoring, and start conversations with clean, actionable data.