Before you can make the sale, you need to know your market. That's why businesses looking to widen their customer base turn to D&B (formerly Dun & Bradstreet) for essential information on new sales prospects. And now, accessing that information's much easier — because D&B has turned to FileMaker Pro, the award–winning database software application from FileMaker, Inc.

Business Challenge

D&B's Sales Leads service helps companies in every line of business find ideal prospects for their products and services. Whatever your business is selling, from ballpoint pens to high–tech consultations, D&B can help you find a wide array of potential customers — by showing you just who's buying from your competitors! From giant corporations to start–ups, from big retail franchises to the corner store, the details are ready for instant access by means of a powerful FileMaker Pro database.

Successful Solution

The database is the brainchild of Darren Amato, a D&B Area Sales Manager based in Parsippany, New Jersey. Darren figured that his clients could be served more efficiently if the information they needed was searchable and distributed over the web, rather than by means of phone calls or faxes. The question was how to do it? Over lunch, a colleague suggested he look into building a database with FileMaker Pro.

Darren was skeptical — he's a sales manager, he says, not a software wizard — but he decided to give it a try. He bought a copy of FileMaker, took it home and experimented — letting his instincts be his guide. 'After fooling with it for a while,' he remembers, 'I suddenly realized 'Hey! I'm going to be able to do this!'

And so he did.

'I never touched a database before this,' Darren emphasizes. 'I didn't take any classes or read any books. I just did it — it's that easy!'

I never touched a database before this. I didn't take any classes or read any books. I just did it – it's that easy!

— Darren Amato, Area Manager Marketing Sales, D&B