The SDR lead list quality checklist before any outreach goes live.

01

Check company fit before contact fit

Do not spend time finding contacts at companies that should not be contacted. Start with account fit, then buyer fit, then email verification. This order keeps the list focused and keeps verification credits from being wasted.

• Confirm industry, company size, geography, funding stage, and sales motion.
• Reject competitors, agencies, students, consultants, or companies outside the offer.
• Flag edge cases instead of forcing them into the launch queue.
• Keep the exclusion logic visible in the sheet.

02

Every row needs enough context to send

A row with only company, name, title, and email is not a rep-ready row. The SDR needs trigger notes, source URL, fit score, sequence angle, verification status, owner, and status.

• Add source URL, trigger note, buyer role, confidence score, and angle.
• Keep personal notes factual and business-relevant.
• Use consistent status labels so the list can be filtered quickly.
• Separate ready-to-send records from research-needed records.

03

Verification is the final gate, not the first gate

Email verification matters, but a valid email at a bad-fit company still creates bad outreach. Verify only after the account and buyer pass QA. Then suppress catch-all or risky emails if deliverability matters.

• Verify emails after dedupe and role matching.
• Keep valid, invalid, catch-all, unknown, and do-not-send statuses separate.
• Do not send to role accounts unless the strategy explicitly calls for it.
• Track bounce outcomes to improve future sourcing.