Most salespeople build prospect lists by job title and company size. That’s fine. It’s also how everyone else does it, which means you’re fishing in the same overcrowded pond.
SIC codes let you fish somewhere different.
Here’s a practical framework for building tighter prospect lists using industry classification data:
Step 1: Get specific with SIC codes
Don’t just target “manufacturing.” SIC 25620 is precision machining. SIC 72190 is other R&D on natural sciences. The more granular you go, the more relevant your outreach becomes — and the less competition you have for attention.
Step 2: Stack filters intelligently
SIC code alone isn’t enough. Layer in company size (employee count or turnover), incorporation date (targeting established companies vs. recent startups means very different conversations), and geography. A 3-year-old precision manufacturer in the Midlands with 20-50 employees is a completely different prospect than a 25-year-old one in London.
Step 3: Look for adjacent SIC codes
If your best customers cluster around one SIC code, pull the 3-4 adjacent codes. Industries that sit next to your sweet spot often have identical pain points — they just haven’t been approached by you yet.
Step 4: Validate before you outreach
Cross-check active status, recent filings, and director stability before building your sequence. A dormant company with no recent filings isn’t a prospect — it’s a time sink.
Borsch.ai lets you search and filter across 5.68 million UK companies by SIC code, company age, size, and status — so you can build this kind of targeted list in minutes rather than days.
Try it at https://borsch.ai