Few, but well-targeted — quality far outweighs quantity in prospecting. Contacting hundreds of random prospects scatters your energy, generates many demotivating rejections and gives a low return. Conversely, a smaller list made of prospects who truly match your ideal target (the right industry, the right need, the right decision-maker) gives a much higher success rate, for less wasted effort. It is common sense: better to spend an hour approaching 10 relevant prospects than the same hour contacting 100 people who have neither the need nor the means. Targeting is therefore the most profitable investment in all prospecting: every minute spent qualifying prospects well saves many later. That does not mean prospecting little (you need volume to feed the funnel), but prospecting right: volume on relevant targets. "A lot AND well-targeted" is ideal; but if you must choose, always favour targeting relevance over raw numbers.

Yes, increasingly, and you should pay attention — the rules depend on the country and the channel. Prospecting involves personal data (contacts' names, e-mails, phones) and commercial solicitation, two regulated areas. In Europe, the GDPR governs data use (legal basis, informing people, right to object/unsubscribe, security), and specific rules apply to e-mail prospecting (often consent required for individuals, with nuances for B2B) and phone prospecting (do-not-call lists). The principles: only collect and use relevant data, inform people, make it easy to unsubscribe, and respect objections. Outside Europe, other regulations exist (check locally). Ignoring these rules exposes you to penalties and harms the company's image. In practice: find out about the framework applicable in your country and for your channel, keep a clean list (lawful sources, unsubscribes respected), and favour relevant and respectful prospecting — which is also more effective than mass spam. Compliance protects the company and, well designed, goes hand in hand with quality prospecting.