If you’re in B2B sales or marketing, you know the drill: A great lead list is the difference between closing deals and wasting time. But most guides skip over the details or make it sound way easier than it is. This article is for people who need a real process to build a targeted B2B list using Leadpipe—a tool that promises a lot, but, like any software, only delivers if you use it right. Whether you’re new to Leadpipe or just tired of lists full of dead ends, here’s how you actually get results.
Step 1: Get Crystal Clear on Who You Want to Target
Before you even log in, nail down your ideal customer profile (ICP). It sounds obvious, but skipping this step is the fastest way to burn hours and end up with a useless list.
Ask yourself: - What industries do your best customers come from? - What company size (revenue, headcount) makes sense for your offer? - What job titles are you actually selling to? - Any geographic limits? (Don’t chase leads you can’t serve.) - Are there tech stacks, funding rounds, or other signals that matter?
Pro tip: Write this out. Don’t trust your memory. Your ICP is your filter—get it wrong, and everything downstream falls apart.
What to ignore: Vague goals like “I want to reach decision-makers at tech companies.” That’s not specific enough. Get granular.
Step 2: Set Up Your Leadpipe Filters
Once you’re in Leadpipe, don’t just start searching blindly. The platform is only as smart as the filters you set.
Key Filters to Use
- Industry / NAICS / SIC codes: Use these to narrow by sector. Be picky—don’t select more than you can actually handle.
- Company size: Employees or revenue. If you’re not sure what works, look at your current customers.
- Geography: Country, state, or even city. If you only serve the U.S., filter out the rest.
- Job title / Department: Target roles with buying power. “Marketing Manager” is better than “Marketing.”
- Technology used: If your product depends on their tech stack (e.g., they use Salesforce), use this filter.
- Funding / Growth signals: Useful if you want companies with fresh budgets.
Pro tip: Don’t stack every filter at once. Start broad, check the results, and tighten up. If you overfilter, you’ll get zero results.
What doesn’t work: Keyword searches without supporting filters. You’ll get junk. Lean on structured data first.
Step 3: Run a Test Search and Gut-Check the Results
Don’t pull 10,000 leads right away. Run a small search first—maybe 50–100 results. Actually look at them.
Check: - Are these companies the right size, industry, and location? - Are the contacts real decision-makers, or are you getting interns and generic emails? - Is the data actually fresh? (Check LinkedIn to spot obviously stale info.)
Red flags: - Lots of generic “info@” emails? You’ll never reach a real person. - Irrelevant companies sneaking in? Your filters are too loose. - Outdated titles or companies that don’t exist anymore? Every database has old data, so spot-check before trusting anything.
Pro tip: If you can’t find 5–10 leads you’d actually want to reach out to, stop and fix your filters.
Step 4: Clean Up and Enrich Your Lead List
No tool spits out perfect lists. Expect to spend some time cleaning and enriching.
What to do: - Remove obvious junk: Delete generic emails, weird job titles, or companies that don’t fit. - Fill gaps: Sometimes Leadpipe gives you a name and company, but no email. Use enrichment features or a tool like Hunter or LinkedIn to fill in blanks. - Validate emails: If Leadpipe claims an email is “verified,” still spot-check. No tool is perfect, and high bounce rates will tank your sender reputation. - Standardize fields: Make sure names, emails, companies, and titles are formatted consistently. It’ll save you headaches when importing into your CRM.
What not to sweat: You’ll never get 100% complete data. Focus on the 80% that actually matters.
Step 5: Export and Segment Your Leads
Leadpipe lets you export lists as CSVs. Before you do, think about how you’ll actually use this data.
Segment by: - Persona or job title (e.g., split founders from VPs) - Industry - Company size - Geography
Why bother? Because your outreach should be different for, say, a SaaS CEO vs. a manufacturing operations manager. Segment now, write faster later.
Pro tip: Keep your exports small. It’s easier to manage 200 leads at a time than 2,000. Quality beats quantity every time.
Step 6: Import to Your CRM or Outreach Tool—Carefully
Don’t just dump everything into your CRM. That’s how you end up with duplicates, messy data, and annoyed sales reps.
Checklist: - Remove duplicates before importing. - Map fields correctly (email, name, company, title, etc.). - Tag or label your list so you know where it came from. - If using sequences or automated outreach, test with a handful of leads first.
What to watch for: Some CRMs choke on large imports or weird characters in fields. Fix these in your CSV before uploading.
Step 7: Test Your Outreach, Then Tweak Your Process
Your first batch of leads is a test. Don’t expect magic. Track what happens:
- Are your emails bouncing?
- Are you getting replies from the right people?
- Is your messaging resonating with this segment?
If you’re not getting the results you want, revisit your filters and list criteria. It’s an iterative process. The best lead lists are built over time, not in one afternoon.
Pro tip: Keep notes on what filters and segments work. Next time, you’ll build your list faster—and smarter.
What Works (and What Doesn’t) with Leadpipe
What works:
- Using multiple filters to get hyper-specific.
- Spot-checking and cleaning every list, no matter what the sales guy says.
- Segmenting leads before you start outreach.
What doesn’t:
- Blindly trusting any tool’s “verified” data.
- Grabbing huge lists and praying for results.
- Relying on job titles alone—people’s roles change, and titles mean different things at different companies.
Keep It Simple—and Iterate
You don’t need a 10-step workflow or 15 enrichment tools. The real key is being specific about who you want, using the right filters in Leadpipe, and not getting lazy on quality control. Start small, refine your process, and don’t expect perfection from any database. The best lists are always a work in progress.
If you keep it simple and stay skeptical, you’ll end up with a lead list you can actually use—and spend a lot less time cursing at CSV files.