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AI in Context · Ep 03The guide

Build a lead list with AI

Exact tools. Exact steps. Start with 25 people.

Get the promptDownload the PDF
The whole process

Eight steps. Then repeat.

  1. 1Write your ICP
  2. 2Make a projectClaudeChatGPT
  3. 3Connect your dataApolloApifyGoogle Maps
  4. 4Paste the promptClaudeChatGPT
  5. 5SpreadsheetGoogle Sheets
  6. 6Check every name
  7. 7Reach outEmailLinkedIn
  8. 8Again tomorrowClaudeChatGPT

Step 8 sends you back to step 4, every weekday.

1

Write your ICP

One paragraph. Who they are, where, how big, who signs, and what's going on when they need you.

Do this
  • Start from your 3 best customers.
  • Add the signal: hiring, growing, complaining about the problem.
Example ICP

Property management companies in Ontario with 11 to 200 employees. The owner, president or director of operations signs. They manage rental buildings for other owners, they're buried in tenant emails and maintenance requests, and they're hiring because of it.

2ClaudeChatGPT

Make a project

A project keeps the instructions, so every run builds the list the same way.

Do this
  • Claude or ChatGPT: Projects, then New project.
  • Paste AGENTS.md into the project instructions.
Open AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md, shortened
# Lead list agent
You build lead lists. The user gives you an ICP and you go find the people.

1. Read the ICP. If who, where, size or who signs is missing, ask once.
2. Pick the channel: email, phone, or events.
3. Find people with the connected tools. Never guess an email.
4. Score each person 1 to 5, one line on why.
5. Drop duplicates and current customers.

Rules: don't contact anyone. Don't spend credits without a yes.
Best 25 first.
3ApolloApifyGoogle Maps

Connect where the people are

Businesses with emails: Apollo. Cheaper and messier: Apify. Trades and local shops: Google Maps and the phone.

Do this
  • Claude: Settings, Connectors, search Apollo, Connect.
  • ChatGPT: Settings, Apps, Apollo.
  • Apify: open the Leads Finder, click Copy setup prompt, paste it to your agent.
Apollo in Claude's connector directory, connected
Apollo in Claude: Settings, Connectors
Apify Leads Finder page with the Copy setup prompt button
Apify Leads Finder: Copy setup prompt
4ClaudeChatGPT

Paste the prompt

Your ICP plus one line. Ask for 25, not 2,500.

Do this
  • Copy the prompt below.
  • Swap in your ICP and send.
The prompt
Here's my ICP: [paste your paragraph]

Build me a lead list of the best 25 people who match. Use the connected tools. Give me the table, then tell me how many matched in total and the one filter you'd change.
The lead list prompt in Claude
The prompt, in Claude
5Google Sheets

Put it in a spreadsheet

The agent gives you a table. One row a person: who, company, why they fit, score.

Do this
  • Claude: click Create a spreadsheet under the answer. Or paste the table into Google Sheets.
  • Add a Status column: New, Sent, Replied, Booked.
The lead table Claude returned from Apollo, names blurred
A real run: 1,462 matched in Apollo, these are the top 8 (names blurred)
6

Check every name

Data goes stale. A lot of the people AI finds are retired or gone.

Do this
  • Ask the agent to read each company's website and rescore.
  • Drop: retired or gone, wrong fit, duplicates, current customers.
  • Retired or gone
  • Wrong fit
  • Duplicate
  • Already a customer
The bottom 14 of the 25, rescored after reading each website: condo managers and owner-only firms
Same run: 14 of 25 dropped to a 3 or lower once the agent read their websites
7EmailLinkedIn

Reach out

Short and true. One ask: “Interested?” Then follow up twice.

Do this
  • Start from your own inbox or LinkedIn.
  • 3 emails, 3 days apart. The last one says it's the last.
  1. 1Day 1Who you are, why them, one ask
  2. 2Day 4Shorter. Same ask
  3. 3Day 7Shortest. Says it's the last
Instantly campaign stats: 5.1K people, 12.6K sent, 282 replies
What good looks like: 5,100 people, 282 replies
Instantly step stats: email 1 replies at 5.4%, email 2 at 1.6%, email 3 at 0.5%
Most replies come from the first email
8ClaudeChatGPT

Do it again tomorrow

50 a day beats 500 once. Most people aren't ready to buy today.

Do this
  • Claude: Scheduled. ChatGPT: Tasks.
  • Ask: “Every weekday at 8 AM, add 25 new people to the sheet. Skip anyone already in it.”
Phase 110 a day
By hand
You write every message
Learn what gets a reply
Phase 250 a day
The AI helps
AI finds and scores
You read and send
Phase 3130+ a day
It runs
The list refills every morning
You answer replies
How many people you need

Walk back from the clients you want.

2,700People contacted
a month, about 130 a weekday
40Replies
1.5% reply
16Booked calls
40% of replies book
4New clients
1 in 4 calls signs

Under 2% reply? Fix the message. Over 2%? Send more.

Tools and what they cost

Start at about $30 a month.

Apollo · Find people
100 free credits a month, then about $59 for 2,500
Apify · Find people, cheaper
$5 free a month, then about $1.50 per 1,000
Expect half to bounce
Claude · Run it
Your Claude, ChatGPT or Codex plan
Google Sheets · Track it
Free
Instantly · Send at volume
Domains $15 a year, inboxes $5 a month
Or Smartlead
HeyReach · LinkedIn at volume
Paid
LinkedIn caps you near 200 invites a week
Clay · Learn more about a lead
Paid
Later, not day one

Prices as of October 2026. Check before you buy.

When you scale email

Never send cold email from your main domain.

1 inboxabout 30 emails a day
×5
1 domainabout 5 inboxes
=
600 a day20 inboxes on 4 domains

Only once your own inbox gets replies. Before that, it's money spent on volume that doesn't work yet.

Take it with you

The files.

PROMPT.mdThe prompt and the example ICPAGENTS.mdThe project instructionsThis guide as a PDFSame steps, one documentEverything on GitHubBoard, prompt, tools and costs
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