If you’re on a B2B sales team and tired of chasing dead leads or wasting time with bad data, you’ve probably heard of ZoomInfo. It’s everywhere—your inbox, webinars, LinkedIn ads. But does it actually live up to the hype? And, more importantly, is it worth the price tag for teams that want to boost lead generation and keep their contact data clean?
I’ve spent a lot of time with ZoomInfo (and its competitors), talked to plenty of sales reps, and sifted through the marketing fluff. Here’s what you really need to know before you sign a contract.
Who Should Seriously Consider ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is built for B2B sales, marketing, and recruiting teams who need:
- A big database of business contacts and company info
- Decent intent data and buying signals
- Workflow tools for prospecting, outreach, and research
- Integrations with popular CRMs and sales engagement tools
If you’re a solo founder or a tiny team, ZoomInfo is probably overkill. But if you’re running a team that does outbound sales, deals with complex buying committees, or needs to keep your CRM clean, it’s worth a look.
ZoomInfo’s Core Features: What Actually Matters
Let’s cut through the laundry list of features to what actually gets used every day.
1. The Business Contact Database
This is the main event. ZoomInfo claims to have data on hundreds of millions of business contacts. Realistically, here’s what you get:
- Large coverage: Especially strong for North America (the US and Canada). Coverage gets spotty once you go global.
- Data depth: Titles, direct dials, emails, company info, tech stack, funding, etc.
- Accuracy: Better than most, but not perfect. Expect a chunk of bounced emails and out-of-date titles—especially in fast-moving industries.
Pro tip: Always verify high-value contacts before outreach. Even ZoomInfo’s best data still needs sanity-checking.
2. Intent Data and Buying Signals
ZoomInfo tracks web activity, content consumption, and “intent” signals. In theory, this means you can spot companies researching your solution before they fill out a form.
- Does it work? Sometimes. If you’re selling to mid-market or enterprise, intent data can be a useful signal—but treat it as a starting point, not a magic lead generator.
- Integration: Plays well with CRMs and workflows, so you can surface these signals where reps actually work.
Ignore the hype: Don’t expect intent data to hand you ready-to-buy leads on a silver platter. It’s one signal among many.
3. List Building, Filtering, and Search
- Flexible filters: Search by job title, department, company size, industry, location, technology used, funding rounds, and more.
- List exports: Build and export lists quickly, though high-volume exports often cost extra.
- Account-based marketing (ABM): Target buying committees, not just individuals.
Real talk: The search UI is good, but it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. Start simple—don’t over-engineer your filters.
4. Data Enrichment & Cleaning
ZoomInfo can fill in missing fields and update stale contact/company data in your CRM.
- Automated enrichment: Keeps your Salesforce or HubSpot a little cleaner.
- Deduplication: Helps, but don’t expect miracles if your data is already a mess.
What to know: This works best if you already have semi-clean data. If your CRM is a dumpster fire, no tool will fix it overnight.
5. Workflow Tools (Dialer, Email, Sequences, etc.)
ZoomInfo has built-in dialers, email outreach tools, and sequence automation.
- SalesOS: Their “all-in-one” outbound platform.
- Engage: Lets you send emails and calls directly from ZoomInfo.
- Chorus: Call recording and analysis (after acquiring Chorus.ai).
Reality check: These tools are fine, but most serious sales teams already use Outreach, Salesloft, or something similar. Don’t switch just for ZoomInfo’s sake.
How ZoomInfo Fits Into a Real B2B Sales Workflow
Let’s say you run a sales team doing outbound prospecting. Here’s how ZoomInfo typically gets used:
- Build a Target List: Use filters to pull companies that fit your ICP (ideal customer profile).
- Find Contacts: Drill down to specific roles/titles—decision makers, champions, users.
- Enrich Your CRM: Push contact and company data into Salesforce/HubSpot.
- Kick Off Outreach: Export lists or connect to your engagement platform for sequences.
- Monitor for Intent: Watch for companies showing buying signals and prioritize them.
If you’re doing ABM or multi-threaded outreach, ZoomInfo is especially handy for mapping out entire buying teams and keeping tabs on org changes.
Where ZoomInfo Delivers (And Where It Doesn’t)
The Good
- Broad, deep coverage in the US. If you sell to North American companies, ZoomInfo’s database is hard to beat.
- CRM integrations are solid. Data flows well into Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, and others.
- Saves time on manual research. Pulling lists and finding direct dials is fast.
- Intent data is a useful nudge. Not a silver bullet, but it can help with prioritization.
The Not-So-Great
- Expensive. Pricing is opaque and usually requires an annual contract. Even mid-sized teams can spend five figures a year.
- Global data is weaker. Coverage drops off outside North America, especially for direct dials.
- Data decay is real. People change jobs constantly. You’ll still get bounced emails and stale info.
- Some “add-ons” are upsells. Want more exports? Premium intent signals? It’ll cost you.
Overhyped
- AI-powered anything. There are plenty of AI buzzwords in their marketing, but most of the value comes from the raw database and integrations—not the “AI.”
- All-in-one platform pitch. If you already have a sales stack, you probably won’t ditch Outreach or Salesloft just to use ZoomInfo’s native tools.
Common Alternatives (And How They Compare)
If you’re shopping around, here are the main competitors and how they stack up:
- Apollo.io: Cheaper, good for startups. Data isn’t as deep, but the value is strong for the price.
- Lusha: Easy to use, strong for direct dials, but less comprehensive company data.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Fantastic for finding people, but not built for bulk exports or enrichment.
- Clearbit: More focused on enrichment and marketing use cases than outbound sales.
Bottom line: If you need the deepest coverage and best integrations (and your budget can handle it), ZoomInfo is still the leader. If you’re price-sensitive or mostly work outside the US, look elsewhere first.
What’s New in 2024?
ZoomInfo rolls out updates regularly, but the main changes lately are:
- Better CRM integrations: More options for syncing data with less manual work.
- Improved intent data granularity: Slightly more precise, but still only as good as the sources.
- AI sales assistants: Useful for some workflows, but not a game-changer yet.
- Acquisitions: Tools like Chorus (call recording) and RingLead (data management) are now rolled in for bigger teams.
Is it revolutionary? Not really. The core value is still the contact database and enrichment.
Honest Tips for Getting the Most Out of ZoomInfo
- Negotiate everything. Nobody pays sticker price—push for bundled features and pilot periods.
- Start with your ICP. Don’t build massive lists just because you can. Refine your filters and focus on quality.
- Validate critical contacts. Double-check C-suite or high-value prospects before handing them to reps.
- Don’t expect miracles. ZoomInfo is a tool, not a strategy. If your team isn’t already disciplined about prospecting, it won’t fix that.
- Keep your CRM healthy. Use enrichment, but maintain good data hygiene on your end.
The Short Version
ZoomInfo is powerful, expensive, and not magic. If you’re a B2B sales team with serious outbound goals and budget, it can save time and give you a leg up—especially in North America. But don’t expect it to be plug-and-play, and don’t buy the hype that it’ll “revolutionize” your pipeline overnight.
Focus on simple workflows, start small, and iterate. If you keep your expectations realistic and your process tight, ZoomInfo’s strengths will come through. If not? It’s just another shiny tool.