10 Free Websites That Help You Find HNW Prospects

Everyone needs a pipeline. It makes more sense to use a top down strategy, identifying people with money and approaching them instead of finding people who will talk to you, then learning if they qualify to be clients.

Before we get started, here’s a caution about doing research on the Internet. Sites often have rules how information can be used. Your college might indicate the membership directory can’t be used for commercial purposes. It’s illegal to prospect political donor lists, even though it’s “public information.” Always read and respect the legal and privacy notices. Only use sites for the purpose they were originally intended. Get your compliance manager’s approval before starting on these research projects.

Related: Keeping up When People are Much Richer than You

Ten Great Resources

You are looking for HNW prospects. Where do you start?

1. Searchsystems.net –It’s a clearinghouse of about 70,000+ public access databases. You want the set of physicians in a certain Pennsylvania town? Go to the site. Click on PA. Look at the categories. Pick business and professional licenses. Look over the next set of categories. Pick Physicians and Surgeons (or a similarly named category.) Use the search engine. Some sites might charge, most don’t. 2. WARN Notices –Layoffs are announced ahead of time in most cases. Enter Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification into a search engine along with your state’s name. You will likely be directed to a state department of labor website, where they maintain a listing. You might have friends or clients who work there. People know other people. 3. Company officers (1). You want to know who owns a local privately held business. Most states have a Secretary of State website with a Department of Corporations. They should have a search engine. Put in a company name. The result set of similar names should include the one you want. Pick the company and view the profile. It should tell you the owner or agent of record. A few states charge for this information. Many don’t. 4. Company officers (2). The website Manta.com does something similar to the above. It’s like a privately owned, national version of your state’s corporation database. You should be able to find the owner or senior officers in a similar way.\ 5. System for Awards Management. SAM.gov is the database for certified government contractors. Find out who is local in your area. I think companies can opt out of being visible to the public, but there still should be many, especially if you live in a large city. The profile should include “who the government talks to.” For smaller businesses, that’s likely the owner. 6. Farm Subsidy Database. The Environmental Working Group, EWG.org maintains a database of which farms and individuals receive agricultural subsidies from the Federal Government. 7. Local Chambers of Commerce. Lots of little towns have their own chambers. You might know about yours, but what about nearby communities? The website 2chambers.com allows you to choose a state name, then view a surprisingly large list of towns. Choose one and you should be able to link to the local chamber’s website. 8. Finding local museums. You know the obvious strategy: Do an Internet search. Here’s another approach. The website epodunk.com lets you enter a town or city name and view a profile. This includes links to local colleges. That choice brings you to a drop down menu that includes museums. It gives you a list within a 20 mile radius, as I recall. It’s a great way for finding small ones that are under the radar. 9. US Census website. The website census.gov is great for researching local towns and finding things like median incomes. It’s tedious to enter town names, but you find which places are clusters of wealth in your local market. 10. The Post Office website. You do some research and find a town with a wealthy population, but there’s a problem. You’ve never heard of it. The site usps.com lets you find the zip code where it’s located, then find out other towns in the same zip code. The unknown town you’ve just found may be known by a more familiar name. You can also find out which zip codes are in a certain city, then use the census site to find the median income for each one.

There’s an amazing amount of information out there. Lots of it is free. You just need to know where to look. (Lots of it is in my book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor.”)