If you’re drowning in leads but most of them go nowhere, you’re not alone. Sales tools love to brag about “more leads,” but what you really need is better leads. This guide is for sales reps, SDRs, founders, or anyone who uses Goldenleads and wants to stop chasing ghosts and start focusing on prospects who might actually buy.
Below, I’ll walk you through how to use Goldenleads’ advanced filters—not just to slice and dice your list, but to spot and surface the folks who are ready to talk. Expect practical advice, honest takes, and a few warnings about what not to waste your time on.
1. Know What “High Intent” Actually Looks Like
Before you start fiddling with filters, get clear on what “high intent” means for you. Every company’s “perfect prospect” is a little different. Some signs that usually indicate real buying intent:
- They’ve visited your pricing or demo page (multiple times is even better)
- They’ve opened your emails, clicked your links, or replied
- Their job title matches your buyer persona
- They’re at a company in your target industry or size range
- They’ve downloaded whitepapers, case studies, or requested info
Pro tip: Don’t just chase C-level titles. Sometimes the person doing real research isn’t the decision maker, but they’re the one bringing you in.
Write down your top 2-3 buying signals. That’s your north star for filtering. If you try to filter for everything, you’ll end up with nothing.
2. Get to Know Goldenleads’ Advanced Filters
Goldenleads offers a bunch of ways to slice your prospect list. The “advanced” filters are where the magic (and the mess) happens. Here’s what you’ll typically find:
- Firmographics: Company size, revenue, industry, location
- Demographics: Job title, department, seniority
- Behavioral: Website visits, email opens, link clicks, content downloads
- Engagement Recency: Last activity, days since last interaction
- Custom Attributes: Tags you’ve assigned, custom fields, CRM syncs
Not all filters are equally useful. In my experience, behavioral and recency filters are the real difference-makers for intent. Firmographics help you avoid obvious dead-ends (e.g. you only sell to US companies), but they won’t show you who’s actually interested.
3. Step-by-Step: Filtering for High Intent Prospects
Here’s how to actually wrangle Goldenleads’ filters to surface your best prospects. You don’t need to use every filter—just enough to make your list a lot less noisy.
Step 1: Start with Basic Fit Filters
Narrow your pool so you’re only looking at people who could buy from you.
- Filter by industry or company size: Cut out folks you’ll never sell to.
- Location: If you only sell in certain regions, set this now.
- Job title/department: Don’t waste time on people with zero influence.
Why start here? No point spending time on perfect engagement if the prospect is a terrible fit.
Step 2: Layer on Behavioral Filters
Now, drill down to who’s actually showing signs of life.
- Website activity: Filter for people who visited key pages (pricing, demo, solutions).
- Email engagement: Look for 2+ opens, clicks, or replies in the last 30 days.
- Content downloads: Tag people who grabbed your best resources—these are your “researchers.”
What works: Stack filters, don’t just use them one at a time. For example: “Visited pricing page” AND “Opened last 2 emails.”
What doesn’t: Don’t bother with one-off actions (e.g. someone who clicked once 6 months ago). If it’s not recent, it’s not intent.
Step 3: Highlight Recent Engagement
Recency is underrated. Someone who was active last week is way more interesting than someone who poked around a year ago.
- Set a date range: Only include activity from the last 30-60 days.
- Sort by last activity: Push the freshest prospects to the top.
Pro tip: If your sales cycle is fast, tighten this window even more. Chasing old leads is a time sink.
Step 4: Use Exclusions to Cut Out Dead Weight
Don’t just add filters—use “exclude” options too.
- Exclude current customers: No point pitching folks who already bought.
- Exclude do-not-contact or bounced emails: Save yourself the headache.
- Exclude inactive companies: If Goldenleads tracks company activity, filter out those with no recent company-level signals.
Step 5: Save Your Filter Set (and Revisit Often)
If you’ve found a combo that surfaces good prospects, save it as a custom view or segment in Goldenleads. This lets you:
- Check up on new high-intent prospects without redoing your work
- Spot trends over time (are high-intent leads dropping off?)
- Share the view with your team, so everyone’s on the same page
Iterate. Don’t expect your first filter set to be perfect. Tweak it as you learn what really predicts a deal for you.
4. What Actually Works (And What’s Overhyped)
Here’s the honest truth: advanced filters are powerful, but they’re not a crystal ball. Here’s what’s worth your time, and what’s mostly noise.
Worth Your Time
- Stacking filters: The real value is in combining fit and intent, not just one or the other.
- Recency: Focus on people who are currently active.
- Behavioral triggers: Multiple actions (visits, downloads, replies) are gold.
Overhyped or Not Worth the Effort
- “AI Intent Scores”: Unless you’ve seen these correlate with actual deals, take them with a grain of salt. Use them as a signal, not gospel.
- Single data points: Someone opening an email once is weak sauce.
- Overly complex filter logic: If you have to explain your filter set in a paragraph, it’s probably too complicated.
5. Pro Tips for Getting More Out of Goldenleads Filters
- Schedule a weekly “intent review”: Spend 15 minutes checking your saved filters and pounce on fresh activity.
- Tag leads for future reference: If you spot patterns (e.g. “People who downloaded X whitepaper usually take a call”), create a tag and filter for it.
- Sync with your CRM: If Goldenleads integrates, make sure you’re not duplicating effort or missing context.
- Don’t chase the perfect filter: There’s always edge cases. Good enough beats perfect.
6. Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
- Over-filtering: If your list shrinks to zero, you’ve gone too far. Loosen one filter at a time.
- Ignoring the “why”: If you’re not sure why a filter matters, don’t use it.
- Chasing old leads: Set recency filters. Old activity doesn’t close deals.
- Not iterating: High intent signals change. Review your filters every month or so.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
The point of Goldenleads’ advanced filters isn’t to build a perfect machine. It’s to give you a fighting chance at spending your time on people who might actually buy. Start with a few clear filters. See what works. Adjust as you go. You’ll waste less time and have more real conversations—which is the whole point.
Happy prospecting.