Building Prospects: Find the Right 20 People

Precision beats volume a list of 20 highly targeted prospects will outperform 500 scraped contacts almost every time

The quality of your prospect list determines the ceiling of your campaign. The best-written email sent to the wrong person gets no reply. A decent email sent to someone with the exact problem you solve gets a conversation.

Apollo.io: Free Plan Is Enough to Start

Apollo.io is the best free option for finding targeted B2B prospects. The free plan gives you 100 email export credits per month, access to 275 million contacts and 73 million companies, filters by industry, job title, company size, location, revenue, and technology, and built-in email verification.

That is 100 new prospects per month which is enough for two well-targeted campaigns.

Setting up your account:

Go to apollo.io and create a free account. Verify your email and connect your LinkedIn which improves data quality. Navigate to People Search in the left sidebar. This is where you build your list.

The Filters That Actually Matter

Most Apollo users apply too many filters and get lists that are too narrow, or too few and get lists that are too broad. Start with these four.

1. Job Title

Who has the authority and motivation to buy what you sell? For most Claude Code builders the right titles are Founder, Co-Founder, and CEO at companies under 50 employees, Head of Operations or Operations Manager, Managing Director, or Head of Department if you are solving a department-specific problem.

1. Company Size

For most solo operators the right range is 2 to 50 employees. Small enough that the founder is still involved in decisions. Large enough that they have a budget. If you build enterprise tools adjust to 50 to 500.

1. Industry

Pick one industry per campaign. Not "I work with anyone" but one specific industry where you have relevant experience or a clear example. Examples include dental practices, law firms, local service businesses, recruitment agencies, e-commerce stores, SaaS startups, and real estate agencies.

1. Location

Specific geography makes your outreach more relevant and more credible. If you are in the UK start with UK companies. Local specificity increases trust.

Filtering by Technology (Advanced)

If you know what tools your ideal clients use you can filter by technology. This lets you find companies that are on Shopify meaning they are e-commerce store owners who understand online business, use HubSpot CRM meaning they are established enough to have a CRM but small enough to need help, are on WordPress meaning they often need custom functionality and are uncomfortable with code, or have a Calendly booking link visible meaning they are not using a native booking system.

In Apollo go to Filters then Technologies and search for the tool name. This surfaces companies where you already know something specific about their setup which makes your first line easy to write.

Building a Campaign List

Step 1: Apply your filters. Apollo shows you a count of matching contacts. Aim for 100 to 500 results.

Step 2: Scan the first 20 results manually. Do they look right? If not adjust filters.

Step 3: Export 20 to 50 contacts. Do not export more than you can personalise this week.

Step 4: Verify before you send. Apollo has built-in email verification so use it. Remove any contacts marked as risky or invalid. A bounce rate above 2% damages your deliverability.

Step 5: Add a signal column. Open the exported CSV and add a column called Signal. You will fill this in during the next lesson.

List Hygiene Rules

One campaign equals one segment. Do not mix industries, job titles, or offer angles in the same campaign. A different segment means a different campaign and a different email.

20 to 50 per week is the right pace. More than that and you cannot personalise properly. Less than that and you do not have enough data to know if the campaign is working.

Never buy a list. Purchased lists are unverified, out of date, and full of spam traps. Sending to spam traps gets your domain blacklisted with no recourse.

Re-verify after 30 days. Email addresses go stale. If you built a list in January and are sending in March run it through verification again first.

Claude Prompt: Refining Your ICP

If you are not sure exactly which type of prospect to target use this:

Using @SALES.MD and @MARKETING.MD — help me define the ideal prospect

profile for my first outbound email campaign.

What I sell: [FROM SALES.MD]

Best client I have had so far: [DESCRIBE THEM — industry, size, problem]

Problem I solve most clearly: [FROM YOUR OFFER DESCRIPTION]

For my ideal prospect give me:

1. The job title to filter by in Apollo
2. The industry or industries to target first
3. The company size range that makes sense
4. The specific technology filters worth using if applicable
5. The geography to start with
6. The buying signal most likely to indicate they have the problem right now

Keep each answer specific — not "professional services" but "physiotherapy

clinics with 2 to 5 practitioners and a basic website."

Adding to EMAIL.md

## Who I Serve

Ideal prospect profile:

- Job title: [YOUR FILTER]
- Industry: [YOUR TARGET INDUSTRY]
- Company size: [EMPLOYEE RANGE]
- Location: [YOUR GEOGRAPHY]
- Technology signals: [TOOLS THEY USE]
- Buying signal: [WHAT INDICATES THEY HAVE THE PROBLEM NOW]

Your Action Right Now

Open Apollo.io. Apply the four filters covering title, company size, industry, and location. Export 20 contacts. Save the CSV with an extra column called Signal.

In the next lesson you will find something specific about each one.