If you’re leading or working in a GTM (go-to-market) team, you know how much of your day can get eaten up by chasing contact info, fixing data mistakes, and passing the same leads around like a hot potato. Setting up your team on Contactout promises to make sourcing and sharing contacts way less painful. But only if you do it right, and only if you avoid the usual traps.
This guide is for GTM folks—sales, marketing, recruiting—who want to stop wasting time and actually collaborate. We’ll walk through setting up Contactout team accounts, what’s worth your time, and what isn’t.
Why Bother With Contactout Team Accounts?
Before we get into the how-to, a quick gut-check: Is a team account even worth it? For most GTM teams, the short answer is yes—if you’re already using Contactout for sourcing and you need to share leads, avoid duplicates, and see what your teammates are up to.
What you get with a team account: - Shared credits: No more running out while your teammate sits on a pile. - Centralized contacts: Everyone can see what’s been found already. - Activity tracking: See who’s reached out, who’s sourced what. - Admin controls: Add/remove people as folks join or leave.
What you don’t get: - Magic lead conversion. Contactout gives you contact info, not a silver bullet for closing deals. - CRM-level reporting. It’s not a full-on sales platform—keep your CRM for the heavy lifting. - Granular permissions. You can control who’s in, but don’t expect fine-tuned access settings.
If that matches what you need, let’s get into it.
Step 1: Get Your Ducks in a Row
Before you invite the whole team, ask yourself:
- How many people actually need accounts? (Don’t just add everyone “just in case.”)
- Who’ll be the admin? (Someone needs to own this.)
- Have you checked your current Contactout plan? (Team features aren’t on every tier.)
- Does your company already use Contactout? (Avoid duplicate accounts—talk to IT or procurement if you’re not sure.)
Pro tip: Start small. You can always add more seats. It’s a pain to wrestle back access if you over-invite.
Step 2: Set Up the Team Account
2.1. Sign Up or Upgrade
- If you’re brand new, go to Contactout and create an account.
- Already have a personal account? Log in.
- To start a team, you’ll need to upgrade your account (usually to a “Team” or “Business” plan).
- Find the "Upgrade" or "Team" section in your dashboard—don’t hunt around for hidden links; if you can’t find it, contact support.
Heads up: Contactout sometimes hides team pricing behind a “talk to sales” button. It’s annoying, but it’s worth getting a real quote—especially if you’re adding 5+ people.
2.2. Add Your Team
- In your Contactout dashboard, look for “Team,” “Manage Users,” or “Invite Members.”
- Enter your teammates’ work emails.
- Assign admin rights if someone else should help manage things (optional).
- Send the invites.
What to ignore: Don’t bother inviting people who only occasionally need contact info. It’s a waste of a paid seat. Instead, have a couple of “power users” pull info and share via your CRM or other tools.
Step 3: Set Up Shared Workflows
A team account isn’t magic. If you don’t agree on how you’ll use it, you’re just paying for shared chaos.
3.1. Decide: Who Does What?
- Who’s responsible for sourcing contacts?
- Who’s responsible for outreach?
- How will you avoid double-contacting the same leads?
Pro tip: Set up a simple rule: “If you source it, tag it.” Use whatever tagging/naming system fits your workflow.
3.2. Agree on Naming and Tagging
Contactout lets you tag contacts and lists. Use this. Without a clear system, you’ll end up with 20 lists called “Q2 Prospects” and no clue who’s in charge.
Some ideas: - Tag by campaign (“webinar-may23”), market segment, or owner (“alex-sourced”). - For recruiting, use tags like “phone-verified” or “emailed-2024-05.”
3.3. Sync With Your CRM (If You Actually Need To)
Contactout can export to CSV and sometimes syncs with CRMs (like Salesforce). Here’s the honest truth: Direct integrations are often glitchy or require admin setup. If you don’t have time to babysit this, just export contacts and import them manually.
- For a small team, CSV export is usually faster and less buggy.
- For larger teams, invest a couple hours to set up and test the integration before you roll it out.
Step 4: Use Shared Credits Wisely
With a team account, you’ll share a pool of credits for finding emails and phone numbers. These don’t grow on trees—if you burn through them in a week, you’re out of luck until next month.
Tips: - Agree on who gets to use credits for bulk lookups. - Keep an eye on usage in your admin dashboard. - Remind the team: Only use credits for real prospects, not random curiosity.
What doesn’t work: “First come, first served” leads to credit hoarding. Try a simple quota (“max 50 lookups per person/week”) if you find credits run out too fast.
Step 5: Set Up Basic Admin Hygiene
You don’t want ex-employees or interns hanging onto access for months.
- Set a calendar reminder to review team members monthly.
- Remove users who’ve left or no longer need access.
- Rotate admin rights if the main admin leaves.
Pro tip: If you’re a fast-growing team, document your process in a shared doc or wiki, so you’re not reinventing the wheel every time someone new joins.
Step 6: Train (Just Enough)
Contactout is pretty intuitive, but don’t assume everyone “gets it” out of the box.
- Do a 15-minute walkthrough: how to search, save, tag, and export contacts.
- Show where to find shared lists and how to avoid duplicating work.
- Remind folks: It’s not a CRM. Don’t try to run your whole pipeline here.
Skip: Lengthy formal trainings. Most people learn by clicking around. Focus on the 2-3 things they must do right to avoid headaches.
Step 7: Review and Adapt
Stuff changes. People leave, teams grow, new tools get added.
- Every few months, ask: Are we using Contactout the way we planned? Are we wasting credits? Is everyone clear on tagging and sourcing rules?
- Be ready to tweak your setup—don’t stick with a broken system out of inertia.
What’s Worth Your Time (And What Isn’t)
Worth It: - Agreeing on a simple tagging system. - Reviewing seat usage every month. - Keeping your team account clean—remove old users fast.
Not Worth It: - Obsessing over CRM integrations if you can just export/import. - Overcomplicating permissions. Contactout isn’t built for super-granular access. - Paying for seats people rarely use.
Common Mistakes (And How to Dodge Them)
- Adding too many seats: Start with the core team, expand as needed.
- No clear process: Without agreed rules, you’ll end up with duplicate contacts and wasted credits.
- Ignoring admin cleanup: Ex-employees keeping access is a security risk.
- Treating it like a CRM: Use it for sourcing, not as your pipeline tracker.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Contactout team accounts can save your GTM team a ton of time—if you keep things simple and stay organized. Don’t overthink it. Set up the basics, watch how your team actually uses it, and make tweaks as you go. Most problems come from trying to do too much, too soon.
Start small, keep it clean, and you’ll get the real value—better collaboration, less chaos, and more time actually selling (or recruiting), not searching for email addresses.