Search for Prospects in Apollo

Prerequisites

• Apollo account with API access or Clay integration
• Defined ICP with firmographic and demographic criteria

Steps

1. Access Apollo search via API. Use Apollo's People Search or Company Search API endpoints. If using Clay, add an Apollo enrichment column -- Clay connects to Apollo's API automatically. Direct API access:

   POST /v1/mixed_people/search
   {
     "person_titles": ["VP Engineering", "CTO"],
     "organization_num_employees_ranges": ["11,50", "51,200"],
     "person_seniorities": ["vp", "c_suite"]
   }
   

2. Set company filters. Filter by: Industry (use Apollo's industry taxonomy), Employee Count (e.g., 11-50, 51-200), Location (country, state, or city), Annual Revenue range, Technologies used, and Keywords in company description.

3. Set person filters. Filter by: Job Title (keywords: "VP", "Head of", "Director"), Department (Engineering, Marketing, Sales), Seniority Level (C-Suite, VP, Director, Manager), and years in current role.

4. Use boolean search for titles. Apollo supports boolean title search: "(CTO OR VP Engineering OR Head of Platform) AND NOT (intern OR assistant)". This gives you more control than simple keyword matching.

5. Save your search. Save the search as a Saved List in Apollo via the API for re-running later. Name with campaign and date (e.g., "Q1-SaaS-DevTools-VPEng"). Apollo notifies when new prospects match.

6. Export results. Use the API to export contacts. Free plan: 25 per search. Paid/Clay integration: higher volume. Always verify emails before outreach (see clay-email-verification).