If you're in B2B sales, you know manual lead gen is a time sink. Spreadsheets, copy-paste, and email roulette? It's how you burn hours and lose focus. This guide is for sales teams ready to automate the dull parts of prospecting with Uplead — and actually get results, not just busywork.
Below, you'll find a step-by-step breakdown. No fluff, no magic bullets — just practical ways to set up lead generation workflows in Uplead, plus where automation really helps (and where it doesn't).
Why Automate Lead Generation in Uplead?
Let’s be honest: prospecting is necessary, but it’s rarely the best use of a salesperson’s time. Automating repeatable lead generation tasks means:
- More time selling: Less time hunting for data or fixing CSV files.
- Cleaner lists: Fewer manual errors and messy imports.
- Faster follow-up: Leads get into your pipeline when they’re fresh.
But automation won’t solve everything — you still need good targeting and smart messaging. Automate the grunt work, not your brain.
Step 1: Get Your Lead Criteria Straight
Before you automate anything, get clear on what a “good lead” looks like for your team. If you skip this, you’ll just automate junk.
Ask yourself: - What job titles and industries are best for us? - What company size, revenue, or location matters? - Are there red flags or deal-breakers?
Pro tip: Write this out and share it with your team. Uplead is powerful, but it’ll spit out whatever you ask for — garbage in, garbage out.
Step 2: Build and Save Your Ideal Search in Uplead
Once you’re clear on your criteria, it’s time to set up your search in Uplead. This is where you define the “who” for your automation.
How To Set Up a Search
- Login and go to the Search tab.
- Set your filters: Use industry, company size, revenue, technologies used, location, job title, etc.
- Preview your results: Don’t just trust the numbers. Spot-check a few leads to see if they’re actually a fit.
- Save your search: Give it a name you’ll remember. Saved searches are the backbone of any kind of automation you’ll do later.
What to ignore: Don’t get sucked into adding 20+ filters “just because.” Over-filtering shrinks your list and can miss good prospects.
Step 3: Automate List Building and Updates
Here’s where Uplead’s automation features start to shine.
Using Uplead’s Automated List Updates
- Uplead lets you schedule your saved searches to automatically update — no need to re-run them every week.
- Set up auto-refresh for your saved searches so new prospects that meet your criteria get added to your list.
- You can get alerts or exports on a schedule (daily, weekly, monthly).
Why this matters: New companies and contacts pop up all the time. Automated updates mean you’re not stuck scraping the same old data.
Exporting Leads Automatically
- Uplead supports scheduled exports (to CSV, for example) so you don’t have to download lists manually.
- For more advanced setups, you can connect Uplead to your CRM or email tool with integrations or via Zapier.
Honest take: Uplead’s native integrations can be a bit limited. If you need something custom, expect to invest some time in Zapier or API setups.
Step 4: Push Leads Directly Into Your CRM
No one wants to babysit CSV files. Modern sales teams use CRMs — Uplead can push leads directly into most popular ones.
How To Set Up CRM Integration
- Go to Integrations in Uplead.
- Connect your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, etc.).
- Map the important fields (name, email, company, title, etc.) — don’t skip this part, or you’ll get messy records.
- Set rules for deduplication, assignment, and notifications.
If your CRM isn’t supported natively, use Zapier as the middleman: - Create a Zap that connects Uplead to your CRM of choice. - Set it to trigger on new lead exports or updates.
Heads up: Double-check mapping and test with a handful of leads first. It’s easy to create duplicate or incomplete records if you rush this.
Step 5: Automate Lead Enrichment (Optional, but Useful)
Sometimes you’ll want more than just the basics — maybe you need direct dials, social profiles, or tech stack data. Uplead offers enrichment features, and you can layer on more with additional tools.
Options for Enrichment
- Within Uplead: Upgrade to access more data fields or use Uplead’s enrichment API.
- With Other Tools: Use tools like Clearbit, Hunter, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator for even deeper data, via Zapier or manual workflows.
What to skip: Don’t pay for enrichment you don’t use. Test a small batch to see if the extra data actually improves your outreach results before going all-in.
Step 6: Trigger Outreach Automatically (But Don’t Spam)
Once you’ve got leads flowing into your CRM, you can trigger outbound emails or tasks automatically. Just don’t let automation turn you into a spam robot.
Good (and Bad) Ways to Automate Outreach
- Good: Trigger a personalized email sequence or alert your sales rep to review a new lead.
- Bad: Automatically blast every new contact with a generic pitch. This is how you get ignored or blacklisted.
How to Set Up: - Use your CRM’s workflow or automation builder (or tools like Outreach, Salesloft, or Mailshake). - Trigger actions based on lead properties (e.g. industry, title) for more relevant messaging. - Always include manual review for high-value leads.
Honest take: Automated outreach is only as good as your message. Don’t let “set it and forget it” become “spray and pray.”
Step 7: Track Results and Tune Your Workflow
Automation isn’t a one-and-done thing. Check your numbers and tweak your filters, exports, and messages as you go.
What to Track
- Lead quality: Are you getting the right people, or just more people?
- Response and conversion rates: Is automated outreach working, or are you seeing more unsubscribes?
- Workflow speed: Are leads getting into your pipeline faster than before?
Pro tip: Set a recurring reminder (calendar, Slack, whatever) to review your workflow monthly. Small tweaks beat big overhauls.
What Works, What Doesn’t, What to Ignore
Let’s cut through the noise:
What works: - Automating repetitive data pulls and exports. - Pushing leads directly into your CRM. - Triggering timely, relevant outreach — not just volume.
What doesn’t: - Relying only on automation for messaging. Human touch still matters. - Over-complicating your filters or workflow — you’ll just create more stuff to fix.
What to ignore: - Hype about “AI-powered lead gen” that promises instant results. At best, it’s just faster sorting. - Fancy dashboards that don’t help you actually talk to prospects.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Don’t try to automate everything at once. Start with the basics: auto-update your lists, push to your CRM, and set up a simple workflow. Watch what actually works, then layer on more as you go.
If you’re spending more time fiddling with automation than talking to leads, you’ve probably gone too far. Keep it simple, tune as you learn, and let Uplead handle the grunt work so you can focus on selling.