If you’re tired of chasing tire-kickers and want to find prospects who are actually ready to buy, you’re in the right place. This guide is for sales reps, founders, and marketers who don’t have time for wishful thinking—and who want a practical approach to sorting real buyers from the rest with Leadpipe filters.
Let’s cut through the noise and get to what actually works.
1. Understand What "Ready to Buy" Looks Like
Before you start fiddling with filters, you need a clear picture of what a "ready to buy" prospect looks like for your business. This isn’t a philosophical exercise—if you don’t know what you’re looking for, no tool (not even Leadpipe) will magically spit out perfect leads.
Ask yourself: - What signals have your best customers shown before they bought? - Which industries, company sizes, or roles actually turn into deals—not just demos? - What does a “hot” lead look like in your CRM notes?
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with what’s made you money before and build from there.
2. Get Comfortable with Leadpipe’s Filters
Leadpipe’s main claim to fame is its filtering system. But here’s the truth: any filtering tool is only as good as your inputs. The filters are powerful, but you need to know which dials to turn.
The Essentials
The most useful filters in Leadpipe typically include:
- Industry/vertical
- Company size (by employee count or revenue)
- Job titles or roles
- Technologies used
- Recent hiring or funding activity
- Intent signals (e.g., recent website visits, content downloads)
- Location
Not all filters will matter for your situation, and some are mostly fluff. Focus on the ones that tie directly to purchase intent.
What to ignore: Filters like “company description contains...” are usually too vague to be useful. Same goes for “founded date” unless you’re targeting startups for a specific reason.
3. Define Your Non-Negotiables
You’ll save yourself a ton of time if you decide up front what’s absolutely required in a lead. These are your “hard filters”—criteria that, if not met, mean you don’t even want the prospect in your pipeline.
Examples: - Must have at least 50 employees - Must have raised funding in the last year - Must use a specific competitor’s product
Set these as your baseline filters in Leadpipe. Don’t get fancy yet.
Reality check: If your “must-haves” list is longer than three items, you’re probably overfitting. Start broad, then tighten up as you see results.
4. Layer in Purchase Intent Signals
This is where you separate the lookers from the buyers.
Leadpipe offers access to various intent data—signals that a prospect is actively researching solutions like yours. Here’s what’s actually worth your time:
- Recent funding or hiring sprees: Companies with fresh cash or a growing team are more likely to buy.
- Tech stack changes: If a company just switched CRMs or added a tool you integrate with, they’re in transition mode.
- Content engagement: If Leadpipe can show you prospects consuming content related to your product, pay attention.
- Job postings: Companies hiring for roles that align with your solution (e.g., hiring a sales enablement manager if you sell sales tools).
What’s less useful: Vague intent signals like “viewed a business blog once.” Focus on concrete actions, not just digital foot traffic.
5. Use Exclusion Filters Ruthlessly
Just as important as finding buyers is cutting out the noise. Exclusion filters are your friend.
Where to be strict: - Competitors: Filter out companies that obviously won’t buy from you. - Industries you can’t serve: Don’t waste cycles on bad fits. - Geos you don’t support: If you can’t sell in Europe, don’t include European companies.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure, exclude first, then add back in later if you need more volume. It’s easier to loosen the net than to clean up a bloated list.
6. Build and Save Your Best Filter Sets
Once you’ve landed on a filter combo that’s giving you promising leads, save it. This makes it easy to revisit, tweak, and repeat.
Why bother? - You’ll avoid reinventing the wheel every week. - It helps you track what’s working as you iterate.
A good saved filter set includes: - Baseline company criteria (size, industry, etc.) - 1–2 high-signal intent triggers - Exclusions for obvious dead ends
Don’t save “kitchen sink” filters with a dozen criteria. That’s a sign you’re trying to force results. Simple wins.
7. Sanity-Check Your Results
Don’t trust Leadpipe (or any tool) blindly. Pull a quick sample of leads and run through them manually.
Look for: - Are these companies actually in your target market? - Do the job titles make sense? - Are any “gotchas” slipping through (e.g., companies you can’t serve)?
If the list looks off, go back and adjust your filters. Don’t get lazy here—it’s better to spot issues now than after burning hours in outreach.
8. Prioritize and Export for Action
A filtered list is only as good as what you do with it. Leadpipe will let you export your filtered prospects for outreach.
How to prioritize: - Start with the highest intent signals first (recent funding, tech changes, etc.). - Sort by company size or other fit factors. - Don’t bother with leads that just barely meet your criteria—aim for the ones that check every major box.
Don’t overthink: Outreach is a numbers game, but quality always wins over quantity. A small, tight list of real buyers beats a bloated list of “maybes” every time.
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
What works: - Using intent signals plus fit criteria - Keeping your filters simple and focused - Regularly reviewing and adjusting your approach
What doesn’t: - Relying on vague filters or “maybe someday” prospects - Ignoring exclusions—bad fits will eat your time - Setting and forgetting your searches (the market changes)
Skip the hype: No filter combo will create a magic list of ready-to-sign leads. But you can absolutely stack the odds in your favor by focusing on signals that matter.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
You don’t need a PhD in data science to spot ready-to-buy prospects with Leadpipe. Start with the basics, lean on intent signals, and don’t get sucked into endless filter tweaking.
The best results come from setting up a smart filter set, running regular sanity checks, and iterating as you learn what works. Stay skeptical of “secret formulas”—stick to what’s proven, and you’ll spend more time closing deals and less time chasing ghosts.