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Build Prospect List

Build a validated prospect list with Clay from a target definition that includes an ICP and buyer personas to create a deduped, suppression-aware list of companies and the right people at them.

Sung Jo
Sung Jo

SEO/AEO Lead at Clay

About this Skill

When to use it

This Skill is essential when you need to create a targeted prospect list based on specific criteria such as industry, geography, and company size. It is particularly useful for sales development representatives and founders who require accurate and validated contact information for potential leads. If you find yourself needing to source companies and decision-makers that fit your ideal customer profile, this Skill will streamline that process. However, it should not be used for finding emails or phone numbers, writing outreach, or enriching existing signups.

What it delivers

The Skill produces three key artifacts: a table of Companies, a table of People, and a Run summary. The decision unlocked is the ability to generate a validated list of prospects that meet your specified criteria. The boundaries include ensuring that all entries are deduped and suppression-aware, meaning that existing customers and competitors are excluded from the list.

SKILL.md preview

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How someone would prompt this

30 VPs of Sales at B2B software companies in Denver, 50–500 employees; we have

Inputs & outputs

What someone provides before the Skill runs, and the reviewable artifacts it returns.

Inputs

  • 01ICP
    • Provide the vertical, geography, and size band
    • vague verticals like 'tech' will lead to vague lists.
  • 02Personas
    • Specify target titles, the seniority floor, and titles to exclude
    • one persona set per search is required.
  • 03Counts
    • Indicate the number of companies wanted and people per company
    • 1–3 people per company is recommended.
  • 04Suppression set
    • List existing customers, competitors, open pipeline, and do-not-contact entries
    • this is crucial to avoid emailing customers.

Outputs

  • 01CompaniesThis table contains validated company information including Company, Domain, LinkedIn, Size band, Location, Industry, and Status.
  • 02PeopleThis table includes validated contact details for individuals, featuring Name, Title, Company, LinkedIn, Role start, Persona, and Validation status.
  • 03Run summaryThis prose artifact summarizes the results of the run, detailing the validation process and any relevant findings.

Representative output

Three things come back. Placeholder rows: Northwind and Contoso are invented.

Companies

CompanyDomainLinkedInSize bandLocationIndustryStatus
Northwind Systemsnorthwind.example/company/northwind50–200Denver, COB2B softwarelisted
Contoso Logisticscontoso.example/company/contoso500–1,000Denver, COfreightdropped: off-band
Fabrikam Cloudfabrikam.example/company/fabrikam80–250Boulder, COB2B softwaresuppressed: customers, matched on domain

People

NameTitleCompanyLinkedInRole startPersonaValidation
A. RiveraVP SalesNorthwind Systems · northwind.example/in/a-rivera2024-03vp-salespassed
B. OseiVP Revenue OperationsNorthwind Systems · northwind.example/in/b-osei2023-11vp-salespassed, flagged multi-role
C. LindqvistVP Sales EnablementFabrikam Cloud · fabrikam.example/in/c-lindqvist2022-06—dropped: off-persona

Run summary

Companies: 30 asked · 52 sourced · 41 validated · 3 suppressed. People: 30 asked · 44 sourced · 31 validated. Shortfall: none. Levers offered: none needed. Search results consumed: 96. Credits spent: 0 — the base motion buys search quota only.

How the Skill runs

Follow the steps in order. Each row includes the full instruction.

01
Verify Clay is working

Verify that Clay is functioning correctly by running a specific command. If there are issues, you will need to set up the Clay plugin before proceeding.

Step
02
Collect the target definition (interview; do not guess)

Collect the target definition through an interview process to ensure clarity. This includes gathering the ICP, Personas, Counts, and Suppression set.

Step
03
Company arm (TAM)

Conduct the company sourcing by mapping the ICP onto the appropriate filters and creating a list of companies that meet the criteria.

Step
04
Suppression gate (before the people arm)

Before moving to the people sourcing, match each company against the suppression set to exclude any that should not be contacted.

Step
05
People arm

Execute a people search across the validated companies to gather potential contacts based on the specified persona filters.

Step
06
Validate every person (the people-search-validate discipline)

Validate each person found in the search to ensure they are currently employed and fit the persona criteria before adding them to the list.

Agent
07
Count honesty + optional fill-ins

Compare the validated counts against the original request and report any discrepancies, offering options for widening the search if necessary. The run stops and waits for spend approval before continuing.

Step

Connections required

No connections listed.

Install Clay and run it

Sign in once, install the Skill, then run the prompt.

  1. 1Install ClayUse the connector or official plugin in your coding-agent environment.
  2. 2Sign up or log inAuthorize Clay access and return when the connection is ready.
  3. 3Install the SkillRun the one-line install command from the Add this Skill card.
  4. 4Run the SkillPaste the example prompt and review the result.

Version history

Version 2From submitted SKILL.mdCurrent

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