Verify a new B2B client before your first quotation

A small service business does not need to turn every incoming enquiry into an investigation. It needs to know who the quotation should be addressed to, who is explaining the need, who can approve the order and which uncertainties prevent it from preparing a meaningful proposal. This guide covers a first business-to-business relationship in France. For a foreign organisation, a regulated sector or an unusual arrangement, the relevant registers and checks will differ.

Start by separating three questions. Does the business exist under the identity provided? Is your contact actually acting for it on this project? Is the proposed assignment clear enough for you to commit time and resources? A positive answer to the first question does not answer the other two. A correctly copied registration number may belong to a different company; a genuine employee may simply be exploring an idea without an approved budget.

Next, match your effort to your exposure. An exploratory conversation with no costly preparation requires fewer checks than a proposal involving purchases, reserved capacity or access to the client's tools. Agree within your team when the file must be complete. You can discuss an indicative price range during discovery, but avoid presenting a firm offer as ready to sign while its recipient or scope remains unclear.

The method below is a practical workflow, not a legal, financial or anti-fraud certification. It produces an explained decision and a next action. It guarantees neither payment nor successful performance of the future contract.

Ask for the name to be used for the order and the business's identifier. Service Public distinguishes the nine-digit Siren, which identifies the business, from the fourteen-digit Siret, which identifies an establishment. This distinction helps you avoid confusing the company placing the order with the shop, branch or office where the work will take place. Reference checked on 29 October 2026.

Open the Annuaire des entreprises business directory yourself rather than relying only on a screenshot someone has sent. Search the identifier, then compare the registered name, the relevant establishment and the information needed for the enquiry. The official description of the service confirms searches by identifier or name and access to proof of registration in the RNE. Some information may be withheld from public display: its absence alone is therefore not an indication of fraud. Reference checked on 29 October 2026.

In practice, write down differences instead of resolving them in your head. “Trading name in the email: Atelier du Centre; company named for the quotation: company X; work location: another establishment” is an actionable note. “It looks like the right business” is not. Then ask which entity should appear on the documents. A group, a franchise and a brand are not necessarily the same contracting party.

Never silently correct an identifier by choosing the result that seems most plausible. Two establishments may have similar names. If the prospect has not yet supplied the necessary information, leave the field marked for confirmation and explain exactly what is missing. Research should verify a proposed identity, not invent the client's contracting identity on their behalf.

A business record does not prove that the person writing to you acts on its behalf. Your second check therefore concerns the connection between the request, the contact and the organisation. Keep it courteous: you are preparing a usable quotation, not asking a prospect to justify their private life.

Ask three simple questions during discovery: “What is your role in this project?”, “Who will approve the scope and the order?”, and “Which entity should the proposal be addressed to?” If necessary, add the name or role of the person who will accept the completed work. The operational lead, buyer and administrative recipient may be different people. That is not an anomaly, but it should be explicit.

If something does not match, use a channel you found independently of the message received: for example, the main telephone number displayed on the company's official website. Have the project confirmed or ask to be directed to the relevant department. Do not treat a number added to an email signature as independent verification of that same signature. Similarly, a credible social profile may help you understand someone's role without being sufficient evidence of authority to commit a company.

A consistent business email domain may make the comparison easier; it does not certify identity. Conversely, a small operation may use a general-purpose email service. Do not automatically dismiss an enquiry for that reason alone. Look for an explanation you can verify, then record what was confirmed, through which channel and on what date.

Finally, do not reflexively request a password, login code or copy of an identity document. For an ordinary assignment, start with the business information you need. If the situation requires formal verification of someone's authority, have a suitably qualified person define the appropriate procedure rather than accumulating sensitive documents without a framework.

An identified business is not automatically a client able to fund your service. However, a quick public search does not establish that it is insolvent either. Separate the fact you observed, its possible interpretation and the working decision you make.

Where your exposure is substantial, consult the relevant official information. Service Public explains how to search for collective insolvency proceedings, including through Bodacc. Check the business concerned and the document's date, then obtain an informed interpretation of an ambiguous situation before making a substantial commitment. A notice must be read in context; an empty search result does not guarantee that the business has no difficulties. Reference checked on 29 October 2026.

Do not automatically turn a review rating into a risk rating. Comments may concern another location, an old experience or a different service. A new business will also have less visible history. In your file, prefer “information unavailable” to “bad client” when you do not have enough facts. This wording prevents an assumption from becoming a lasting internal reputation.

You may also encounter a recent name change, a move or an organisation still being established. Ask which entity will place the order and when the information will be settled. Sometimes it is reasonable to continue discussing the project without reserving resources; in other cases, you need to wait. A useful check does not necessarily end in immediate acceptance or rejection.

For amounts, payment terms, guarantees or contractual restrictions outside your usual practice, consult your regular professional adviser. This guide sets no universal threshold. The time you could lose, irreversible spending and your dependence on this client matter more than a numerical rating manufactured from a handful of searches.

Here is the central template to copy into your sales file. It fits on a page and separates information to establish from the decision taken. Do not fill a box with an assumption simply to make the form look complete.

Contracting party. Stated registered name; Siren; relevant establishment where applicable; official source consulted; consultation date; differences found against the enquiry received.

Contacts. Person describing the need; stated role; approval contact; administrative recipient; independent channel used if there was doubt; specific outcome of that confirmation.

Assignment. Restated need; proposed deliverables; main exclusions; information or access required; person responsible for accepting the work; remaining unknowns that could change the price or schedule.

Exposure. Unrecoverable preparation time; possible purchases; capacity to reserve; critical dependencies; condition to clarify before starting. Keep these points in working language, rather than presenting them as a verdict on the prospect's character.

Decision. Prepare a quotation; request clarification; propose a more limited first step; suspend pricing. For each choice, record an observable reason, an owner and an event that will trigger reconsideration. “Await Siren confirmation from purchasing” is more useful than “suspicious file”.

Use three field statuses: verified, stated and awaiting confirmation. Verified means you can identify a source and date; stated means the information came from your contact without further verification. The third status is not a failure: it identifies a question to resolve. A stated need is often enough for an initial conversation, whereas the identity of the recipient of a firm quotation deserves to be established.

Do not calculate a points total that lets several reassuring details offset a major contradiction. A consistent address and an attractive website do not resolve uncertainty about which company is placing the order. Review blocking points first, then decide whether the other unknowns can reasonably remain open at this stage.

The usefulness of a check is reflected in the quality of your questions. Avoid vague messages such as “Can you prove your business is trustworthy?” They put the prospect on the defensive without specifying what is missing. Instead, identify the discrepancy, the practical reason for asking and the information you need.

Template to adapt: “To address our proposal correctly, could you confirm the registered name and Siren of the entity that will order the service? The name used in our conversation differs from the one on the document received. Please also confirm who will approve the scope and which administrative address should receive the quotation.” This wording accuses nobody and does not accept an assignment.

For a project involving several people: “I understand that you are leading the operational side. Before we finalise pricing, who needs to approve the deliverables and ordering terms? This will help us prepare a proposal that matches your internal process.” The answer may reveal that a detailed quotation would be premature, without the contact having been misleading.

If an urgent request involves unusual spending or using a supplied link, slow down that part of the process. Contact the organisation through an independent channel and have the process confirmed. Urgency is not evidence. You can continue clarifying the request without clicking, paying, sharing access or reserving equipment.

Once you receive the answer, update the sheet rather than leaving two contradictory versions in scattered notes. Keep the factual wording that supports the change: “entity confirmed by purchasing on 29 October”, for example, only if that confirmation actually happened.

The DGSI recommends verifying the identity of the person giving instructions before transmitting information or carrying out sensitive financial operations. Here, that recommendation reinforces independent confirmation without turning every request into grounds for suspicion. Source checked on 29 October 2026.

Consider a fictional small business that takes product photographs for retailers. It receives a request to photograph two shops under the same trading name. The contact wants a quick quotation but mentions a different company in their signature. This is an educational example: it describes neither a client nor a result observed by SprintLead.

The owner starts by asking which entity is placing the order and which establishment is involved. She does not assume that both shops belong to the same company. She finds the supplied identifier in the public register, records the corresponding information and asks about the approval process. The contact explains that they coordinate the shops while someone else approves expenditure.

At this point, the team can prepare a provisional scope: locations to photograph, number of products to confirm, intended image uses and arrangements for accepting the work. It does not yet book an outside contractor whose costs would be difficult to cancel. This decision follows from its actual exposure, not an accusation against the prospect.

Imagine two possible outcomes. In the first, the approver confirms the entity, the need and the ordering process. The small business then finalises its quotation under its usual terms. In the second, nobody confirms which company will order, yet the contact asks for an immediate payment to a supplier they have nominated. The business suspends that spending and the firm quotation, then seeks independent confirmation.

The difference between these scenarios is not an abstract trust score. It is the presence or absence of information directly needed for the decision. The method also benefits the legitimate client: they receive fewer incorrect documents, fewer repeated requests and a proposal addressed to the right person.

A sales record should help people work, not collect everything available online about a person. Keep the business information needed for the file, its source and the associated decision. Avoid screenshots containing private information unrelated to the assignment, speculative comments and sensitive documents requested “just in case”.

Define who can access the file and revisit the information as the relationship changes. An old check is not permanent confirmation. A change in the recipient company, contact or ordering process should trigger targeted clarification, not necessarily a repeat of every search. Have retention and access rules established within your data-protection framework, with qualified advice where needed.

Before this stage, the guide to qualifying prospects before outbound helps you decide which accounts deserve a conversation. The check described here comes afterwards: its purpose is not to find lists or rate people, but to prepare a coherent business relationship.

The SprintLead Companies page presents a space for exploring and organising your market. Use sales information as a starting point, then confirm the relevant identity with official sources and the client. This guide attributes neither creditworthiness certification nor verification of signing authority to SprintLead.

Finally, as the relationship moves towards invoicing, continue to distinguish the contracting party from invoice routing. Our guide to the French electronic invoicing directory covers that separate stage. A technical receiving address does not, by itself, establish who ordered your service.

To introduce this workflow, choose one incoming enquiry and try the sheet before making it a general procedure. Note which fields were genuinely useful, which searches were repeated and which questions unlocked pricing. Remove anything that influences no decision. An overly burdensome process will be bypassed; a vague one will create an impression of security without helping the team.

Also define an escalation rule. The person preparing quotations should know whom to consult about contradictory identities, a notice that is difficult to interpret or an unusual payment request. They should not make a substantial commitment alone simply because a prospect insists. A small team can designate its owner for this decision, then consult a specialist depending on the issue.

After a few cases, review the files put on hold: were they paused because necessary information was missing or because of a personal preference? Did you ask for the same confirmation twice? Was a field still marked “awaiting confirmation” overlooked when resources were reserved? These questions improve the process without creating a permanent ranking of businesses.

Your objective is not to eliminate every uncertainty. It is to prevent an important unknown from being hidden inside a quotation that appears ready. Start with identity, role and the ordering process; adapt the rest to the assignment. When information is missing, provide a clear next action rather than an exaggerated conclusion.