How to build a commercial territory list from private company data
Assign companies to sales territories using evidenced operating locations, a defined account unit and an explicit unresolved queue—not registered offices as a proxy.
Build a commercial territory list by deciding which operating business belongs to which geography, then assigning only locations you can support with a source. Keep a separate unresolved queue when you have only a registered office, a stale company page or an uncertain entity match. That produces a reviewable coverage map without turning registry rows into assumed trading sites or sales prospects.
Define the account and the assignment rule
Start with the decision the team needs to make: coverage by country, region or local service area. Decide whether an account is a legal entity, a trading business or a group. A group may have several registered entities and more than one operating location; a single address cannot always assign the whole group. Preserve the registry identifier for each legal entity, but record the business or group relationship separately. The entity-matching guide explains how to leave an uncertain link open.
Write an assignment rule before sorting rows. For example, an operating site evidenced in the chosen region may qualify for local coverage; a company that serves the region without a known site may need a separate service-area label. Those are different facts. Decide who reviews multiple-site or unresolved accounts, and keep the original source and observation date so assignments can be revisited.
Use the register for identity, then test the operating location
In the UK, Companies House search guidance describes the register’s company number, status, registered office, SIC code and filing information. These help identify and filter legal entities. They do not, by themselves, establish a current customer-facing or operational location. A company-published website can describe a site or service area, but label it as the company’s claim and check that it belongs to the entity or group in the row.
A UK registered office is an official correspondence address; GOV.UK expressly allows a service provider’s address, including an accountant’s or solicitor’s. Keep registered office and trading address in separate fields. Do not silently copy the office postcode into the trading-location field. If the source only supports the office, the operating geography remains unknown for a location-sensitive territory decision.
| Field or decision | Evidence to retain | If unresolved |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Jurisdiction, registry number, status and check date | Hold the identity match for review |
| Operating business | Dated activity source and its link to the legal entity | Do not count the row as a confirmed operating account |
| Trading site or service area | Company-published or other attributable location claim, source and date | Leave the location blank; use an unresolved queue |
| Territory assignment | Rule applied, reviewer and decision date | Do not allocate solely from the registered office |
This is a decision record, not a claim that every public source is independently verified. The address guide sets out the source check in more detail.
Keep status and size filters honest
Set aside an entity with a dissolved status when the task requires a currently operating legal entity, but keep the check date. An active status is only a legal-status filter. In Companies House accounts guidance, dormancy refers to significant accounting transactions during an accounting period. A historical dormant filing deserves review alongside later filings and operating evidence; it is not a permanent label for the business or its group.
Use a SIC code to find candidates for review, then compare the filed classification with what the business says it does. For size, record only a disclosed measure with its entity and period. A balance-sheet figure is not revenue; a filing category is not headcount. Leave revenue or employee fields blank when public evidence does not support them. The assignment rule should still work when those fields are missing.
Separate coverage research from outreach
The finished territory worksheet should show confirmed assignments, unresolved locations, entity-match questions and the source date behind each decision. It does not show which organisation needs your product, has a budget, or wants to hear from your team. A record in a territory is not a qualified lead.
Do not turn public contact data into a blanket permission to market. For UK business-to-business outreach, the ICO explains that rules vary by channel and type of subscriber, and that publicly available personal data still needs its own data-protection assessment. Have the campaign owner check the applicable rules for its market and channel; the territory worksheet does not make that decision.
SeekCompanies is researching a one-time-purchase private-company spreadsheet, and no finished market file, count or price is available yet. Coverage describes the planned fields and verification standard. Pricing and availability explains the planned licence and provides a direct email route to ask about a specific market and intended use.
Frequently asked questions
Can a registered office postcode decide a sales territory?
It can identify the registered office's location, but it does not establish where the business operates. Seek a separately sourced trading or service location and leave territory assignment unresolved when the operating geography matters but cannot be supported.
Is an active company on the register an active sales account?
No. Registry status describes the legal entity. Check the entity behind the trading business and seek dated operating evidence. A dormant filing describes its accounting period, not every later period.
Does a territory list grant permission to contact every company in it?
No. A territory list is research about organisations, not consent or a qualified lead list. Outreach requirements depend on the jurisdiction, channel, recipient and whether personal data is used; assess those separately before a campaign.
Sources
- Searching the Companies House register — Companies House; accessed October 17, 2026
- Check the rules for registered office addresses and email addresses — GOV.UK; accessed October 17, 2026
- Preparing and filing Companies House accounts — Companies House; accessed October 17, 2026
- Business-to-business marketing — Information Commissioner's Office; accessed October 17, 2026
Tell us which market you need.
Research is under way. No market file, price or release date is available yet. Review the planned licence, then email the market you need to ask about its research status.