I have an associate who ONLY generates his own leads using a combination of UCC filings, linkedin, & things like fastpeoplesearch& buzzfile.
He only aims for the type of merchants you're looking for & with bigger companies like that, its really about how you approach the owner and the options you can provide them. Cold calling guys like that really doesn't convert very well.
No need to spend huge $$ on "recent applications"...unless you have a very trustworthy source.....theres a reason all these "fresh app packages" find their way to a bunch of brokers!