How to Find Company Org Charts and Identify Decision-Makers

Table of Contents

1. KEY TAKEAWAYS
2. What is an org chart?
3. Benefits of Finding Org Charts for B2B Sales Teams
4. 1. Data Providers and Intelligence Platforms.
5. 2. Company Websites.
6. 3. LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
7. 4. Other Social Media Platforms.
8. 5. Job Postings.
9. 6. Industry Publications and Reports.
10. 7. Networking and Referrals.
11. 8. Public Filings.
12. 9. Corporate Directories.
13. 10. Freelance Researchers and Consultants.
14. Common Mistakes Sales Reps Make With Company Org Charts
15. Conclusion
16. FAQs

If you ever wondered if a company has a particular team, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you want to use this data point to personalize outreach or identify ideal customers, finding org chart data could give you a huge edge in selling. Selling is a lot easier when you know exactly who you should be selling to, am I right? As a B2B sales rep, one of your biggest make-or-break factors is whether you're spending your time talking to the right people or just burning cycles on dead-end conversations. Company org charts can help you cut through the noise and pinpoint the folks who actually have the authority and motivation required to sign off on a deal.

A company org chart allows you to go straight to the source - the VPs, directors, and managers who control the budget and have a vested interest in your solution's value prop. The ones who can champion your product and actually get stuff signed and implemented.

But finding company organizational charts is often easier said than done, especially at larger companies with complex org structures. How are you supposed to identify all the right stakeholders when that info isn't publicly available or quickly accessible?

In this guide, I'll show you how you can create org charts and start crushing quota like a boss.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Data Providers and AI Intelligence Platforms like ZoomInfo and LavaReach are powerful tools for finding accurate, up-to-date org charts and decision-maker info at scale.
• Company websites often provide org charts under sections like "About Us" or "Our Team", though these can be outdated or lack depth.
• LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator allow you to piece together org structures from employee profiles and get auto-mapped org chart visuals.
• Other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can supplement org chart research by providing additional context.
• Job postings give insight into team structures, roles, and reporting lines that can help build out more complete org charts.
• Industry publications, reports, and news articles sometimes feature details about company leadership and organizational structures.
• Networking and getting referrals from current/former employees provides invaluable insider perspectives to verify and enrich org chart data.

What is an org chart?

An org chart depicts the hierarchical structure of a company, outlining positions and reporting relationships. Org charts help sales teams find decision-makers and allocate resources effectively. It includes management titles and their responsibilities, helping in targeting prospects and navigating big organizations.

Benefits of Finding Org Charts for B2B Sales Teams

Finding company org charts and identifying the key decision-makers is absolutely critical for B2B sales reps looking to sell more effectively and efficiently. Having organizational charts gives you a huge leg up by allowing you to map out the entire organizational structure and reporting lines. This lets you precisely pinpoint the decision-makers and influencers you need to target with your outreach.

Instead of wasting time emailing or calling lower-level employees who have zero buying power, you can go straight to the decision-makers with purchasing authority. This saves you and your team tons of time and energy that would otherwise be wasted on talking to the wrong people.

With an org chart in hand, you can also better personalize your messaging and value props to directly speak to the pains and priorities of each decision-maker. The more relevance and personalization you can pack into that first email or call, the higher your chances of booking a meeting and moving the deal forward.

Beyond just finding the decision-makers, org charts also reveal other key people of interest like potential champions, coaches, and stakeholders involved in the buying process. You can strategically loop them in early to increase your chances of success.

At the end of the day, having visibility into the full company org structure allows you to map out a much more targeted, efficient sales process. You can create account plans that precisely identify who you need to influence and the right messaging to move them through your sales funnel.

1. Data Providers and Intelligence Platforms.

For sales reps looking to take their organizational charts research to the next level, data providers and sales intelligence platforms are where it's at. These platforms make it their business to constantly crawl the web and compile deep organizational data on companies across every industry.

Two major players in this space are ZoomInfo and LavaReach. With these AI-powered tools, you get on-demand access to constantly updated and verified org charts created for millions of companies. This data is pulled from websites, public filings, press releases, and other sources into rich company profiles.

Within these profiles, you can instantly view the full organizational hierarchy. This shows you teams, departments, and most importantly - all the key decision-makers you need to target. Instead of piecing it together manually from scattered sources, it's all laid out cleanly for you.

These org charts go way beyond just showing an executive leadership team too. You can drill all the way down into middle management, non-officer roles, and even individual contributors in some cases.

The data providers also enrich the org charts with direct contact info like verified email addresses and phone numbers. This saves you from having to track down those mission-critical decision-makers once identified.

Using an intelligence platform is easily the fastest, most comprehensive way for sales teams to get their hands on org charts at scale. The upfront cost is typically higher than free methods, but the time savings and sales efficiencies quickly make it worthwhile.

2. Company Websites.

If you're looking for a free way to find company org charts, one of the first places to look for org charts is on the company's own website. Many companies, especially larger ones, will provide organizational charts or team directories right on their site. These are typically found under sections like "About Us," "Our Team," or "Company Leadership."

The quality and depth of these org charts can vary quite a bit. Some companies just list out their executive team with names and titles. Others give you the full enchilada - an interactive org chart that lets you drill down into different departments, teams, and even individual contributors.

Either way, the company website is always going to be one of your first stops when trying to find their org chart and identify the key decision-makers. Even if the org chart seems bare bones, it can give you a solid starting point to then cross-reference against other sources like LinkedIn.

The big upside here is that you're getting the org data straight from the source. The downside is that many companies are constantly doing changes and reorganizing and their website may not be updated frequently with the latest changes. But it's always worth checking first before turning to other tools and resources.

3. LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

LinkedIn is another go-to resource when you're trying to find a company's organizational charts and identify the key decision-makers. Once you search for the company on LinkedIn, the "People" section gives you a view into all the employees with profiles on the platform.

From there, you can start piecing together the different teams, roles, job titles, and reporting structures. Employees often list their manager and direct reports right on their profile, giving you clues about how the org chart is structured.

The big upside of using LinkedIn is the vast amount of data from employee profiles. The downside is that it can take some serious manual labor to stitch it all together into a cohesive org chart, especially for larger companies.

This is where LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help. This premium tool has robust org chart features that automatically map out the company's structure based on profile data. You can easily visualize reporting lines, drill into different teams, and even get auto-suggestions on which roles to target for specific sales campaigns.

Between the standard LinkedIn search and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you have a pretty powerful one-two punch for finding org charts.

4. Other Social Media Platforms.

While LinkedIn is the biggest social media goldmine for org chart research, don't completely overlook platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These can sometimes provide helpful clues and data points to piece together a company's organizational structure.

On Twitter, you may be able to find employees listing their role, team, and even who they work with or report to in their posts. Looking through a company's followers and who they follow can also reveal connections between different individuals.

Facebook company pages and groups can give you a peek into different teams and departments. Employees may post about their roles, share the projects they're working on, or even share organizational announcements.

Instagram business profiles put more emphasis on visual content, but you can still sometimes glean insights from employee bios, posts they're tagged in, and their connections.

The key with leveraging these other social platforms is using them as supplementary sources - not your primary method of org chart research. The data is usually much spottier and harder to stitch together.

But every now and then, you may stumble upon an employee's post or bio that perfectly connects the missing dots in your research. Or it may help you identify key individuals to then further verify and enrich through other channels.

At the very least, scouring these additional social media sites lets you develop a more well-rounded understanding of the company's teams, internal dynamics, and culture. All of which provides crucial context when mapping out your sales strategy.

5. Job Postings.

Job postings are another often-overlooked source for uncovering org chart intel. When companies list open roles on their own career site or job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, etc., they usually provide some context around the specific team and reporting structure.

Within the job description, they'll outline key responsibilities, skills required, and who the role will report to or manage. For example, a posting for a "Director of Demand Generation" may state they will oversee a team of managers and specialists focused on paid media, email marketing, etc.

Right there, you've got insight into what that demand gen team looks like - the director role, their direct reports of manager levels, and even what sub-functions like paid media roll up to that org.

You can take it a step further by looking at the requirements around "managing X number of direct reports" or "working cross-functionally with other teams like..." These details start connecting the dots between different teams and levels within the org structure.

The job postings essentially give you a piecemeal look into how responsibilities and positions are divided up. It takes some reading between the lines. Stitch enough of those pieces together, and you can start mapping out an increasingly comprehensive org chart.

6. Industry Publications and Reports.

For sales reps selling into specific industries, another valuable source of org chart data can be trade publications, industry reports, and news articles. This type of content will sometimes feature full organizational breakdowns or provide illuminating details about leadership structures.

Trade pubs and company profile reports will often have sections dedicated to profiling the key executives, management teams, board members, etc. While not a visual org chart per se, you can use this info to map out reporting lines and who the real decision-makers are.

For example, an article announcing a new CEO or other C-suite hire will likely mention their direct reports and areas of responsibility. A profile on the CFO may reveal what departments like accounting, FP&A, treasury, etc. roll up to them.

News stories around things like fundraising rounds, M&A deals, or restructurings can provide a treasure trove of org insights. The articles will go into details about the strategic rationale and that sheds light on how different teams and roles are structured.

Even company press releases announcing new VP/director hires or promotions give you clues about teams and future hierarchical changes.

7. Networking and Referrals.

Sometimes the best org chart intel comes straight from the source - current or former employees at your target companies. Tapping into your professional network and getting referrals can open doors to valuable inside information.

Attending industry events, joining professional associations, or just working your existing connections can put you face-to-face with people who have an intimate knowledge of how a company is structured. With a little finesse, you can mine them for org chart gold.

For example, let's say you strike up a conversation with someone who used to work at your prospect company. You can naturally work the discussion around to questions like "Oh I'm actually trying to map out the marketing team there - who does/did the demand gen team report into?" Or "Do you know who the key decision-makers are for [specific product/service]?"

If you're talking to a currently employed contact, you can piece together their role, team, and reporting structure through casual conversation. Then use that as an anchor point to ask who else you should target in connected teams or levels up the chain.

The key is to be conversational and make it a two-way street. Make it clear you're picking their brain not just for a company org chart, but broader information, advice and context about the organization's dynamics, politics, and culture. That way it feels like a mutually beneficial networking discussion.

8. Public Filings.

If you're selling into publicly-traded companies, their regulatory filings can provide a wealth of org chart information that's often overlooked. Annual reports, proxy statements, and other documents that public companies have to file contain details on their organizational structures and executive leadership.

In the annual report, there's usually a section dedicated solely to the company's executive officers and management teams. This will list out all the C-suite roles, senior VPs, and other key leaders along with their responsibilities and bios. A virtual org chart of the top brass.

You can cross-reference this management breakdown against the proxy statement, which provides more color on executive compensation and decision-making power. For example, the areas of oversight for each executive officer, membership on board committees, and who the named executive officers are.

10-K and 10-Q filings also sometimes include organizational charts or talk about recent restructuring that impacted reporting lines. The level of insight just from SEC filings alone can be impressive.

The upside of using public company data is that it's extremely official, reliable, and updated at least once annually if not more frequently. The downside is that it tends to be heavily focused on just that senior leadership level.

But even having an org chart mapped out for the upper echelons of management is a great start. It allows you to target the key decision-makers, and then you can build out the rest of the org chart using other research methods I've covered.

9. Corporate Directories.

Before we dive in, let's be clear: I get the appeal of getting your hands on those juicy corporate directories. Having the entire company org chart laid out for you like that? It's like an aimbot for your sales outreach. But let me be crystal clear - trying to access that stuff through shady backdoors is a one-way ticket to Compliance Jail.

Those directories are confidential and off-limits for a reason. Accessing corporate directories without authorization is a big no-no.

Soo, for sales reps really trying to go deep on their org chart research, corporate directories can be an incredibly valuable data source - if you can get access. Many larger companies maintain internal directories that essentially map out their entire organizational structure.

These corporate directories are usually restricted resources that aren't publicly available. But if you have good connections or can get a referral from a former employee, you may be able to get your hands on the company directory gold mine.

Within these directories, you'll typically find a comprehensive listing of every single employee, their role, title, team, reporting structure, office location, contact info, and more. It's an org chart on steroids with incredible depth and detail.

The key advantage here is having a centralized, officially maintained view of the org that leaves no holes or guesswork. You see exactly who reports to who, which teams roll up where, and all the players involved from top to bottom.

The downside is actually getting access, which often requires having a highly placed internal champion or referral source. These directories are kept confidential for privacy reasons.

If you find you can somehow tap into the company's directory, even if it's an older version, you're setting yourself up for org chart nirvana. Just be mindful of privacy policies and data compliance. But this inside scoop gives you a huge competitive advantage for targeting and personalization.

10. Freelance Researchers and Consultants.

For sales teams with bigger budgets or extremely high-value targets, outsourcing the org chart research to freelancers or consulting firms is an option worth considering. These are specialists who make it their business to dig up customized organizational data and insights.

There's a whole gig economy marketplace out there of freelance researchers and consultants who can take your target company list and build out comprehensive org charts from the ground up. Using a combination of the manual research methods we've covered, AI-powered tools, and their own proprietary data sources, they leave no stone unturned.

They go way beyond just mapping out an org chart too. The top-tier consulting firms provide deep profiles on all the key market players, their backgrounds, priorities, roles in the buying process, and how to best communicate value to them. It's like hiring a private investigator for sales intel. Expensive — but when targeting whales, it may be worth it.

Common Mistakes Sales Reps Make With Company Org Charts

Even for sales reps who understand the importance of organizational charts, there are still plenty of common mistakes that can undermine your efforts. Avoid these critical org charts mistakes:

• Relying solely on a company's website org chart. These are often outdated or lacking crucial details beyond just the senior leadership team. Use website org charts as a starting point, but don't treat them as gospel.
• Not cross-referencing multiple data sources. The more data points you can compile from places like LinkedIn, job postings, employee bios, etc., the more comprehensive and accurate your final org chart map will be. Verify, verify, verify.
• Failing to identify the full buying committee. Having the decision-maker is key, but you also need to loop in other influencers like champions, coaches, stakeholders, and gatekeepers. Organizational charts help you map out all those players.
• Letting your organizational charts research get stale. Organizations are constantly being restructured. If you aren't regularly updating your org chart data, even a once-accurate chart quickly becomes useless. Refresh org charts regularly.
• Not leveraging AI and automation tools. Trying to manually stitch together org charts is an enormous time-suck. AI-powered tools can do the heavy lifting for you and surface insights you'd miss.
• Focusing only on titles, not responsibilities. A VP title doesn't automatically make someone a decision-maker. Look at the actual roles, responsibilities, and org structure to identify the real influencers.
• Overlooking internal company politics and dynamics. An org chart alone doesn't show you the internal relationships, tensions, or who really has clout. You need additional context around the personalities.

Conclusion

With accurate org charts in hand, you can precisely plan out multi-threaded campaigns that systematically advance deals by engaging all the right stakeholders. You're getting face time with the decision-makers who actually care about your value prop from the jump instead of wasting cycles on dead-end conversations.

It's the difference between mindlessly spraying and praying versus being a sniper with a laser-focused, consultative sales approach. One method just has you burning leads and churning while the other sets you up to truly crush quota.

So which path do you want to take - working harder or working smarter? If it's the latter, you need to be leveraging all the org chart intelligence tools.

The good news is that you don't have to figure out this entire process alone. LavaReach is the AI-powered sales intelligence platform built specifically to help sales reps like you map out perfect org charts and identify decision-makers with ease.

By combining cutting-edge data-enrichment AI, web research automation, and a dialed sales execution layer, LavaReach eliminates all the manual headaches of org chart research. We'll handle automatically surfacing those key contacts and accounts showing active buying signals so you can focus on what you do best - selling.

Want to see it in action and learn how LavaReach software can 10x your sales efforts? Book a demo with our team today and get ready to leave the spray-and-pray life behind for good.

FAQs

How to identify key decision-makers within a company?

To identify key decision-makers within a company, focus on roles like CEO, CTO, CFO, or department heads. Utilize LinkedIn to search for titles such as "Head of Sales" or "VP of Marketing". Networking with industry insiders can also reveal influential individuals in the organization.

How often do company org charts change?

Company org charts can change depending on factors like mergers, acquisitions, or restructuring. Major changes prompt immediate updates, while smaller adjustments may occur quarterly or annually. Regularly revisiting org charts ensures accuracy and alignment with organizational changes.

Where should sales reps focus when analyzing org charts?

B2B sales reps should concentrate on understanding decision-making layers, key departments, and potential influencers highlighted within the org chart. Understanding reporting relationships and communication channels helps tailor sales strategies effectively.

How can org charts help anticipate future market trends and competitors?

Org charts aid B2B sales reps in forecasting future market trends by identifying emerging roles and departments within companies. Understanding competitor org structures informs strategic positioning and competitive strategies, enhancing market anticipation.

About Daniel Zhao

Daniel Zhao is a multiple time founder with years of first-hand experience in B2B sales and revenue leadership. He has a consistent track record of helping companies experiment and implement outbound in SaaS and other industries. Throughout his career, Daniel has set up numerous outbound motions for the first time for companies that previously had not found success with sales led customer acquisition.