Mastering sales prospecting using Apollo

Step 1: Understanding sales prospecting

Sales prospecting is the foundation of any successful sales process. It's the systematic approach to identifying potential customers who might be interested in your product or service. Think of it as the first stage of your sales pipeline—without good prospecting, even the best sales techniques won't deliver results.

In the sales cycle, prospecting serves several crucial functions. First, it helps you build a steady pipeline of potential customers. Rather than waiting for customers to find you, prospecting lets you actively identify and reach out to companies that might need your solution. This proactive approach helps maintain consistent sales growth.

Second, prospecting helps you focus your sales efforts on the right targets. By identifying specific characteristics of good prospects, you avoid wasting time on companies that aren't likely to become customers. This makes your entire sales process more efficient.

Ideal prospects typically have:

• A clear need for the solution you offer
• The right budget to buy your product or service
• Authority to make purchasing decisions
• A timeline that aligns with your sales cycle
• Company size and structure that fits your target market

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to find the right potential customers using Apollo's database. We'll use AI to help us find companies that are most likely to be interested in your product or service.

First, we'll use ChatGPT to help us describe exactly what kind of customers we're looking for. Then, we'll use this information to search Apollo's database and find companies that match what we need.

After we find these matching companies in Apollo, we'll download their information and prepare it for the next tutorial of this course, where we'll learn how to reach out to them. This step-by-step process helps make sure we're finding the best possible leads for your business.

Step 2: Creating your ideal customer profile (ICP)

An ideal customer profile serves as the foundation for targeted prospecting. When we use AI to help create this profile, we can uncover important details we might otherwise miss.

For example, beyond just knowing a company's size, we might realize that companies using certain technologies or facing specific challenges are more likely to need your solution.

Open up ChatGPT and use this prompt, replacing the text in square brackets with your own info:

Create an ideal customer profile with these key parameters:

1. Company Size: [number of employees, annual revenue]
2. Industry Focus: [sectors or niches within the industry]
3. Business Needs: [key pain points or goals]
4. Unique Selling Points: [standout features]
5. Context: [your business description]

Review ChatGPT's analysis carefully to make sure it aligns with your business objectives. Consider whether the profile reflects your successful customer relationships and make adjustments based on your practical experience.

Step 3: Developing Apollo search filters

The next step involves converting our ideal customer profile into functional Apollo search parameters. We'll use AI to help us make this translation accurately. This way, we won’t miss any important search parameters that could help us find our ideal prospects.

Use this prompt in ChatGPT:

Convert the ideal customer profile into Apollo search parameters for:

1. Account Location
2. Number of Employees
3. Industry & Keywords
4. Technologies
5. Revenue Range

Provide specific filter values for Apollo's interface.

Making these filter parameters by defining your customer profile and using AI is a much more logical way to get relevant lead data. However, feel free to change/add/modify any search parameters that ChatGPT produces if you feel doing so would be beneficial.

Step 4: Searching for leads in Apollo

Let's start by setting up your Apollo account properly. Visit Apollo.io and click the "Sign Up" button.

During signup, you'll be asked about your role and company. Provide accurate information as this helps Apollo customize your experience.

Now on the dashboard, locate the Companies tab in the left sidebar. This section gives you access to Apollo's search functionality and filtering options.

The Apollo search page shows different filter options on the left side of the screen. Start by finding the location filter and enter the locations you want to target based on your earlier planning.

Next, add all your other filters one by one - like industry type, technology used, and company size. Make sure each filter matches exactly what you decided you needed in your search plan.

Our search found 858 companies, but we'll narrow this down to get better results. For this tutorial, we'll work with just 25 companies to keep things simple and manageable. While you can use this method with more companies, it's smart to start small when you're new to AI-powered sales. This lets you test what works best, make improvements, and then expand your efforts once you're comfortable with the process.

Step 5: Exporting prospect data

Once you've implemented your filters and reviewed the results, it’s time to export your prospect list. At the top of the results page, you'll find a checkbox that allows you to select all displayed prospects. Users with paid Apollo plans have access to the "All Pages" option, enabling the export of the complete filtered prospect list in one go.

Click the Export button in the top right corner of the interface, and you’ll an ‘Export to CSV’ window pop up.

Click ‘Export records’ to download the list. And that’s it!

In the next tutorial, we'll learn how to use Clay to enrich the data from these companies ready for outreach.

‍

‍

This tutorial was created by Tanmay.