How to automate prospect list building in Spoke for targeted outreach

If you’re sick of wasting hours on mindless prospecting, this guide’s for you. Maybe you’re in sales, marketing, or just the unlucky person told to fill the pipeline. You want a smarter way to build lists in Spoke so you can focus on outreach, not copy-paste drudgery. Let’s get your prospect list-building running on autopilot—without falling for empty promises or overcomplicating things.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Automating prospect list building sounds fancy, but it’s mostly about stringing together tools to get names, emails, and info into Spoke so you can act on them. Here’s what you need to have or decide:

  • Access to Spoke: Don’t laugh—make sure you’re set up with the right permissions.
  • A clear idea of your target: If your criteria are “anyone with a pulse,” automation won’t help you.
  • Data sources: Where are your prospects? LinkedIn, company websites, Apollo, Crunchbase, public directories—pick a source or two.
  • Some basic tooling: You don’t need to be a developer, but you do need to be comfortable with spreadsheets, and maybe a Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat) account.

Pro tip: Automation only works if your data isn’t garbage. Bad inputs will just make your outreach worse, faster.

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Prospect—Don’t Skip This

It’s tempting to automate before you know what you’re looking for. Resist that urge. Spend 15 minutes writing down:

  • The industries, job titles, company sizes, and locations that matter.
  • Any “dealbreakers” (e.g., companies under 10 employees, or anyone with “Intern” in the title).

If you skip this, you’ll end up with a messy list you’ll have to clean up by hand later. Trust me, it’s not worth it.

Step 2: Pick Your Data Source(s)

Not all prospect data is created equal. Here are the common options:

  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Great targeting, but scraping is against their TOS and APIs are limited.
  • Apollo, Lusha, or similar: Paid, but more automation-friendly. Check if your company already has access.
  • Public directories (Crunchbase, AngelList, GitHub, etc.): Hit-or-miss, but sometimes goldmines.
  • Your CRM: Maybe you’re trying to enrich or revisit old leads.

Pick 1–2 sources. More than that and you’re just making work for yourself.

Step 3: Get the Data—Automatically (When Possible)

Here’s where the magic and headaches both happen. Depending on your source, here’s how you can pull data:

3.1. Using Built-in Exports

  • Apollo/Lusha: Usually let you export lists as CSVs. Dead simple.
  • Crunchbase Pro: Paid plans allow CSV exports.

3.2. Scraping (Carefully)

  • Phantombuster, TexAu, or Clay: These tools can scrape LinkedIn and other sites, often with templates.
  • Legal & practical warning: Scraping LinkedIn is technically against their terms. Accounts get banned. Know the risks.

3.3. Using APIs

  • Some platforms (e.g., Apollo, Crunchbase) have APIs. If you’re comfortable, you can automate this with Zapier, Make, or custom scripts.
  • Zapier/Make: Good for connecting APIs without code.
  • Google Sheets Add-ons: Tools like “Data Connector for Salesforce” can sync CRM data to sheets automatically.

What to ignore: Any tool that promises “real-time verified leads” for pennies. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Step 4: Clean and Format Your Data

Automation is useless if you’re dumping junk into Spoke. Spend 10 minutes checking and cleaning your file:

  • Required fields: Name, email, company, and any custom fields you care about.
  • Consistent formatting: Emails in one column, no weird merged cells, etc.
  • Remove duplicates: Use the “Remove duplicates” feature in Google Sheets or Excel.
  • Scrub out bad data: Delete any rows with blank emails, broken formatting, or obvious spam.

Pro tip: Save your cleanup steps as a macro or Google Sheets script if you do this regularly.

Step 5: Import Prospects into Spoke

Spoke wants your data in a specific format. Here’s what works:

  • CSV Import: Most reliable. Export your cleaned list as a CSV.
  • Field mapping: When importing, make sure columns are mapped to the right Spoke fields (e.g., “Email” to “email,” “Company” to “company_name,” etc.).
  • Custom fields: If you have special data (e.g., “LinkedIn URL”), map them to custom fields in Spoke so you can use them later.

How to Import: 1. Log into Spoke. 2. Go to your campaign or prospect list section. 3. Click “Import” or “Add prospects” (the wording may vary). 4. Upload your CSV, map fields, and review a sample before confirming. 5. Fix any errors flagged by Spoke (usually missing emails or bad formatting).

Pro tip: Import a small test list first (5–10 rows). Make sure everything looks right before uploading hundreds of leads.

Step 6: Automate Ongoing Prospect List Building

Now the fun part—setting up things so you don’t have to do all this manually every week.

6.1. Use Zapier or Make

  • Connect your data source to Spoke:

    • E.g., When a new row is added to a Google Sheet, automatically add that contact to Spoke.
    • Or, when a new deal is created in your CRM, push the info into Spoke.

  • Basic Zapier/Make flow:

    1. Trigger: New row in a Google Sheet (or new contact in your CRM).
    2. Action: Format the data if needed (Zapier’s Formatter tool is handy).
    3. Action: Create prospect in Spoke (if there’s a direct integration; if not, use Spoke’s API or email importer).

Honest take: Spoke’s integrations might not be as deep as some CRMs. Sometimes you’ll have to get creative, like using email parsing or webhooks.

6.2. Schedule Regular Imports

  • If your data source only exports files, set a calendar reminder to do it every Friday. Not technically “automated,” but you’ll still save hours versus manual prospecting.

Step 7: Keep It Clean—Avoid List Rot

Automation is great, but lists decay fast. Here’s how to stay ahead:

  • Regularly prune bounced emails: Use Spoke’s deliverability stats or connect with an email verification tool.
  • Update your criteria: If you notice a lot of unqualified leads, tweak your filters or sources.
  • Check for duplicates: Automation can accidentally add repeats. Set up simple duplicate checks every month.

Ignore any tool that promises to “self-clean” your list magically. You’ll still have to review things yourself.

What Actually Works—And What Doesn’t

Works: - Using CSV exports and imports—simple, reliable. - Automating with Zapier/Make if your data sources and Spoke support it. - Keeping your criteria tight, so you don’t waste time on junk leads.

Doesn’t work: - Relying on “AI-powered” scraping tools that get blocked or banned. - Ignoring data quality—automation just makes bad lists faster. - Overcomplicating your setup. The more moving parts, the more things break.

Final Thoughts: Start Simple, Iterate Often

Don’t get lost chasing the “perfect” automated workflow. Get a basic import working, test your outreach, and only then add more automation. Most teams waste time trying to build Rube Goldberg machines instead of just doing the work. Keep it simple, keep it clean, and keep an eye on your results. If you’re spending more time automating than selling, it’s time to dial it back.

Good luck—and remember, no system replaces good targeting and real follow-up. Automation just gets you to the starting line faster.