If you’re selling B2B, you know that a “one-size-fits-all” lead list is useless. You want leads filtered by industry and company size, or you’re wasting everyone’s time—especially yours. This guide is for anyone using Lonescale who wants clean, usable segments for sales or marketing. Whether you’re new to the platform or just want to skip the fluff, here’s how to actually get it done.
Why bother segmenting by industry and company size?
Quick reality check: Not every company is a fit for your product or service. Segmenting by industry means your pitch actually makes sense. Segmenting by company size—think employee count or revenue—keeps you from trying to sell enterprise solutions to a five-person startup (or vice versa).
You’ll:
- Avoid wasting time on leads that will never convert.
- Personalize outreach without writing a novel for every email.
- Spot patterns that can help you upsell or cross-sell later.
Lonescale gives you tools to do this, but it’s not magic. You need to know how to use them.
Step 1: Get your raw leads into Lonescale
You can’t segment what you don’t have.
- Import your list: Lonescale lets you upload a CSV or import from sources like LinkedIn or Crunchbase.
- Check your data: Garbage in, garbage out. Make sure your leads have company names, websites, and—ideally—LinkedIn URLs. Missing data means more manual work later.
Pro tip: Don’t trust every “industry” label from third-party lists. They’re often wrong, outdated, or just weird.
Step 2: Understand Lonescale’s data fields
Before you start slicing and dicing, know what you’re working with.
- Industry: Lonescale usually pulls from standard taxonomies (like NAICS or SIC) but also offers broader categories (e.g., “Software,” “Healthcare”). Not every company fits neatly—expect some fuzziness.
- Company size: This is usually based on employee count, not revenue. Lonescale will show ranges (e.g., 1-10, 11-50, 51-200, etc.). Revenue data, if present, is often estimated.
What works: Employee count is almost always more reliable than revenue. Revenue numbers are often wild guesses unless you’re dealing with public companies.
What to ignore: Overly-granular industry categories. If you get too narrow, you’ll miss good leads that just didn’t fit the exact label.
Step 3: Set up your segmentation filters
Here’s where you actually carve up your list.
- Go to your lead list inside Lonescale.
- Click the “Filter” or “Segment” option. (Exact wording may change—look for the funnel icon.)
- Select “Industry” filter.
- Pick the categories that matter to you. Broader is usually better, unless you’re targeting something ultra-specific.
- Avoid picking so many that you end up with everything. The point is to get focused.
- Add a “Company Size” filter.
- Choose the employee ranges that match your ideal customer profile.
- Most B2B teams target 11-50 or 51-200 for SMB/mid-market, or 201+ for enterprise. Adjust to your reality.
- Apply the filters.
- See what’s left. Too many? Tighten up. Too few? Broaden your size or industry picks.
Pro tip: Save your filter set as a segment so you can reuse it. Lonescale usually lets you name and save segments for quick access.
Step 4: Review and clean up your segments
Just because a company shows up in your filtered list doesn’t mean it’s a good fit. This is where most people slack off—and regret it later.
- Spot-check the list: Open a few company profiles. Does the industry label match reality? Is the employee count plausible?
- Kick out the junk: Remove companies that are out of business, in the wrong geography, or otherwise clearly off-target.
- Check for duplicates: Some platforms let the same company show up twice under different names. Merge or delete them.
What works: Spending 10-15 minutes skimming your segment now saves hours of chasing dead leads later.
What to ignore: The urge to “just use the list as-is.” Bad data will always come back to bite you.
Step 5: Export or sync your segment
Once your segment looks good, decide where it goes next.
- Export: Download as CSV if you want to use the list in another tool (like your CRM or a cold email platform).
- Sync: If you use Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar, Lonescale might let you push segments directly. Check the integration docs first—these connections can be finicky.
Heads up: Always double-check the exported data. Sometimes columns shift or weird formatting sneaks in.
Pro tips for better segmentation
- Don’t get too fancy. Start with broad segments. You can always drill down later, but you can’t build a pipeline from a segment of three companies.
- Revisit your filters monthly. Companies grow, shrink, or pivot industries. What worked last quarter might not work now.
- Industry labels are just a starting point. A “Tech” company could be a SaaS rocketship or a local IT shop. Use your judgment.
- Don’t trust employee numbers blindly. Especially for remote-first or holding companies, headcounts can be way off.
- Document your segment logic. If you’re sharing with a team, write down what each segment is for. Saves headaches when you come back later.
What doesn’t work: Common mistakes
- Chasing hyper-specific segments: If your filters are so tight you get a handful of leads, you’re probably missing the forest for the trees.
- Assuming Lonescale’s data is gospel: No tool is perfect. Cross-check anything that seems off.
- Forgetting to update segments: Industries and company sizes change. If you set it and forget it, your outreach gets stale.
Keep it simple and iterate
Lead segmentation isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of discipline. Start broad, clean up your data, and don’t get hung up on perfect industry tags or exact headcounts. The real win is spending less time sorting leads and more time actually talking to them.
Segment, sanity-check, and get moving. Tweak things as you go. That’s how you get real value from Lonescale—without turning it into another spreadsheet headache.