Sick of wasting hours cobbling together prospect lists by hand? You’re not alone. The manual grind of copying names from LinkedIn, hunting down emails, and updating spreadsheets is soul-sucking work. There’s a smarter way—if you’re willing to set it up.
This guide is for anyone who wants to automate the bulk of their prospect research using Clay, filters, and enrichment tools. I’ll walk you through a practical workflow, what actually works, and the pitfalls to skip. If you want hacks or silver bullets, look elsewhere. If you want a reliable, repeatable system, keep reading.
Step 1: Get Clear on Your Ideal Prospect
Before you touch any tools, nail down who you want to target. Automation’s only as good as the criteria you feed it.
- Define the basics: Industry, company size, job titles, locations, etc.
- Dig deeper: Tech stack, funding stage, hiring trends, recent news, etc.
- Be honest: If you’re just scraping every “CEO” in tech, you’ll get junk. The tighter your filters, the better your results.
Pro tip: Write a short “must-have” and “nice-to-have” list. This keeps you from getting distracted by shiny data later.
Step 2: Gather Your Raw Lead Sources
Clay is powerful, but it’s not magic. You need to gather the right sources to feed into it.
- Start with LinkedIn: Still the best for B2B. Pull lists from Sales Navigator or regular search.
- Company databases: Crunchbase, Apollo, Clearbit, or even public directories.
- Export your lists: Most tools let you export CSVs. Don’t obsess over perfection—just get a solid starting batch.
What to skip: Buying random lead lists. They’re usually outdated, riddled with spam traps, or scraped illegally. You’ll waste time cleaning junk.
Step 3: Import into Clay and Set Up Filters
Now, upload your raw list into Clay. If you haven’t used it, Clay is basically a spreadsheet on steroids—it lets you pull in data, filter it, and run enrichment automations.
- Upload your CSV(s): Clay handles large lists, but if you’re over 10,000 rows, break it up to avoid lags.
- Set up filters: Use Clay’s filter functions to weed out obvious mismatches (wrong industries, missing emails, etc.).
- Stack filters: Layer multiple criteria—like “Industry = SaaS” + “Employee count > 50” + “Location = US.”
What works: Building up filters gradually and checking the results as you go. If you try to do it all in one monster filter, you’ll miss stuff or accidentally exclude good leads.
What doesn’t: Relying on one variable, like job title. People fudge titles all the time—combine fields for accuracy.
Step 4: Enrich Your Data (But Don’t Go Overboard)
Here’s where the magic happens. Enrichment tools fill in missing info—emails, social profiles, tech stacks, funding rounds, and more.
- Clay integrations: Plug into Clearbit, Apollo, Hunter, Dropcontact, BuiltWith, and others directly from Clay.
- Pick your battles: Only enrich the data you actually need. Every API call costs money and time.
- Test before scaling: Run enrichment on a small batch to see what you get. Results can vary wildly.
- Stack enrichments: For emails, try multiple sources. If Hunter misses, maybe Dropcontact finds it.
Pitfall to avoid: Don’t try to enrich everything. You’ll burn through credits and still end up with spotty data. Focus on what you need for outreach (usually: name, company, email, maybe LinkedIn URL).
Pro tip: Enrichment isn’t perfect. Some emails will bounce, some tech stack info will be wrong. Accept it and move on.
Step 5: Clean and Deduplicate
You’ll be surprised how much junk sneaks in, even after filtering.
- Remove obvious fakes: “test@test.com,” “John Doe,” and so on.
- Deduplicate: Clay can spot and merge duplicate records by email or domain.
- Check for bounces: If you have access to a verification tool, run emails through it to weed out non-deliverables.
What works: Spending 15 minutes cleaning up your list before exporting. You’ll save yourself a ton of headaches later.
Step 6: Export and (Optional) Sync with Your Outreach Tools
Once you’re happy with your list, export it as a CSV. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, use Clay’s integrations to push directly into your CRM or sales engagement platform.
- CSV works for most cases: Universal, easy to check, and import elsewhere.
- API integrations: Clay connects to HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach, and more, but don’t bother if you’re only running a small campaign.
- Check your fields: Make sure your exported columns match what your outreach tool needs (first name, email, company, etc.).
Pitfall to avoid: Don’t export before you’re done cleaning. Otherwise, you’ll just end up doing more manual work later.
Step 7: Spot-Check Before You Send
Even the best automations miss stuff. Take five minutes and check a random handful of rows before you load up your outreach.
- Look for weird formatting: All caps names, missing emails, mismatched job titles.
- Sanity check company names: Are you emailing “Stealth Mode Startup”? Maybe skip it.
- Check for recent job changes: Enrichment tools lag behind reality—people move jobs all the time.
Pro tip: If something looks off, it probably is. Trust your instincts and cut questionable rows.
What Actually Works (And What to Ignore)
A lot of prospecting “automation” is overhyped. Here’s what’s actually useful:
- Reliable filters: Get granular with your targeting. The tighter your criteria, the better your lists.
- Layered enrichment: Combine multiple sources for emails and data, but don’t try to get 100% coverage.
- Manual review: Automation gets you 80% there—spot-checking catches glaring errors.
- Focus on relevance: Ten great prospects beat a thousand random ones.
What to ignore:
- Automagical “AI list building” tools: Most just repackage scraped data.
- Scraping LinkedIn directly: It’s against their terms, and you’ll get blocked or banned at scale.
- Chasing every new tool: Stick with what works. New doesn’t mean better.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Don’t overcomplicate this. The goal isn’t a “perfect” list—it’s a repeatable system that saves you hours every week. Start simple, automate the boring stuff, and tweak as you go. If you find yourself spending more time fiddling with tools than reaching out to prospects, you’ve gone too far.
Set up your filters, enrich what matters, clean your list, and move on. The best automation is the one you actually use.