That means:

• Low reply rates.

• Dead contacts.

• Saturated data.

• And a lot of wasted time.

But here's the good news:

There’s a smarter way to use Apollo.

And in this post, I’ll show you exactly how to turn it into a precision targeting engine that pulls fresh, verified, uncontacted leads from the best data sources online.

🚫 The Wrong Way: Building Lists Inside Apollo

Most people sign up for Apollo and immediately:

• Search by industry

• Add some keywords

• Apply filters

• Export 10,000 leads

The result?

You’re getting the same data that’s been sitting in Apollo’s database for months — hit by hundreds of other outbound teams.

The leads are old, overused, and probably marked half the cold emails they’ve received as spam.

✅ The Right Way: Feed Apollo Fresh Company Data

Here’s the trick:
Use Apollo for contact data — not company discovery.

Step 1: Scrape Company Data from Fresh, External Sources

Use a tool like Scrapeamax to get unlimited company lists from:

• 🗺️ Google Maps – for local SMBs

• 🧱 BuiltWith – filter by tech stack (Shopify, Stripe, etc.)

• 📊 Latka – find SaaS companies by revenue, funding, and headcount

• 📈 Agency Vista – thousands of marketing agencies

• 🧑‍💻 Clutch & GoodFirms – dev shops and consultants

• 🛍️ Store Leads – eCom & DTC brands by size, niche, and revenue

You’ll get a spreadsheet with website URLs of real businesses that match your ICP.

Example:
You want plumbing companies in the US → Scrapeamax delivers verified websites, phone numbers, and Google reviews in hours.

Step 2: Plug These Domains into Apollo

Inside Apollo:

• Go to People

• Click on Company Lookalikes

• Choose “Include list of companies”

• Paste 2,000+ domains from your Scrapeamax list

Now Apollo will only search contacts at the companies YOU provided, not from its saturated internal suggestions.

This flips the script.

Instead of hunting inside a stale database, you're finding verified decision-makers at fresh, untouched companies.

Step 3: Filter for Decision Makers

Use Apollo filters to target:

• Job Titles → Founders, CEOs, Partners, VP, etc.

• Location

• Company size

• Email status → Verified only

Boom — you’ll see hundreds of verified, high-probability contacts that likely haven’t been contacted before.

Step 4: Optional — Double Verify with MillionVerifier

If you're serious about deliverability, run your exported list through Million Verifier.

This gives you:

• 90–95%+ email accuracy

• Bounce rates as low as 0.3–0.5%

• Catch-all email cleanup

This step is optional, but highly recommended if you're sending high volumes or care about inbox placement.

Why This Works (And Why It’s Not Widely Known)

You’re reversing the flow:

• Instead of searching Apollo → you’re feeding Apollo external company data.

• Instead of blasting shared records → you’re targeting verified domains from tools nobody else is scraping.

That’s why clients like Eric Nowaslawski & Leadamax use this system and see insane results.

Want the Full SOP?

We’ve built this workflow into a free Slack community where we share:

• Cold email SOPs

• Clay & AI personalization workflows

• Tools we use (Apollo, Scrapeamax, Smartlead)

• Exclusive list-building tutorials

• Verified list requests on demand

Join the cold email ecosystem here → Scrapeamax Slack

TL;DR: The Lead List Method That Pros Use

• Don't build lists inside Apollo

• Use Scrapeamax to get fresh, accurate company domains

• Feed those domains into Apollo's People > Company Lookalikes

• Filter for decision-makers + verified emails

• Optionally clean with MillionVerifier

• Build better lists, book more meetings, and crush your outbound

This is exactly what we do at Leadamax to build done-for-you lead gen systems for B2B businesses.

Cold email isn’t about who yells the loudest.

It’s about who targets smarter.

Let me know if you want the doc, video walkthrough, or help implementing it — and I’ll hook you up - so join slack for FREE and dm me what you need.

Slack Linked

Cheers,
Moiz Khurram
Founder @ Leadamax + Scrapeamax