# AI prompts for Apollo > Use AI with Apollo to pick better filters, sort your leads and write short first emails. Steps plus 4 prompts you can copy. By Corey Leon. First posted 2026-10-28. Updated 2026-10-28. Source: https://www.simpleai.community/blog/apollo-ai-prompts/ License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Credit Simple AI with a link. Question: How do I use AI with Apollo to find and write to leads? Use AI with Apollo in three places: before you search, to turn your best customers into clear filters, after you search, to sort the list and pick who fits, and when you write, to draft a short first email for each person. Export a saved list from Apollo as a CSV, paste it into ChatGPT or Claude with a prompt below, and bring the results back into your sequence. Apollo also has its own AI writing help on some plans, and the same prompts work there. ## Steps 1. **Describe your best customers first.** Write down 3 to 5 customers you love working with: their industry, size, location and the title of the person who bought. This is what the first prompt turns into filters. 2. **Build the search in Apollo.** Use the filters the AI suggests, like job title, industry, company size and location. Save the people you want to a list. 3. **Export the list.** From the saved list, export to a CSV. Exports can use credits on some plans, so export only the people you plan to contact. 4. **Sort and check the list with AI.** Paste the CSV with the sorting prompt to find who fits best and who to drop. 5. **Write the first emails.** Use the email prompt for your top people. Paste the drafts into your Apollo sequence or email tool. 6. **Read every email before it goes out.** Check names, titles and companies against the record. Data in any lead tool can be out of date, so a quick look at the person's LinkedIn helps. ## Prompts you can copy ### Turn your best customers into Apollo filters ```prompt You are a sales researcher. I sell [what you sell] to [type of business]. Here are my best customers: [list 3 to 5, with industry, number of employees, location and the job title of the buyer]. Tell me what they have in common. Then give me search filters I can use in a lead database: job titles to include (with spelling variations), job titles to exclude, industries, company size range and locations. Keep it as a short list. Do not add filters that are not supported by the customers I listed. ``` ### Sort an Apollo export by fit ```prompt You are helping me pick who to contact first. Below is a CSV exported from Apollo with name, title, company, industry, employee count and location. My ideal buyer: [title] at a [type of company] with [size range] employees in [area]. Sort every row into A (great fit), B (maybe) or C (wrong fit). Give one short reason for each B and C. Flag any title that sounds like the wrong department. Return a list with name, company, grade and reason. Only use the data in the file. [paste CSV here] ``` ### Write a short first email for each person ```prompt You are a plain spoken sales rep at [your company]. We help [type of customer] with [problem you solve]. One real result we can share: [a true example, or leave out]. For each person below, write a first cold email. Rules: under 75 words. Start with something about their role or company, not about me. One sentence on what we do in their words. End with one easy question. No "I hope this finds you well." No fake compliments. Give a subject line under 5 words in lower case. People (name, title, company, one fact about the company): [paste rows here] ``` ### Write a follow up for people who did not reply ```prompt You are writing email 2 in a short cold email sequence. Email 1 said: [paste email 1]. Write email 2 for [title] at [type of company]. Under 50 words. Add one new useful idea or a question they might be asking themselves. Do not say "following up," "bumping this" or "did you get my email." End with a yes or no question. Give me 2 versions so I can test them. ``` ## Example This is a made-up example. You sell safety supplies and your best customers are three electrical contractors with 20 to 100 staff in Ohio, where the buyer was the operations manager or the owner. The first prompt might come back with: titles to include, "Operations Manager, Owner, President, General Manager, Safety Manager," titles to exclude, "Estimator, Apprentice, Project Coordinator," industry "construction, electrical contractors," size 20 to 100, location Ohio and nearby states. Now your Apollo search starts from real customers, not a guess. ## Tips - Keep your sorted A list small. Twenty people you write to well beat two hundred generic emails. - Put one true fact in each email. If you cannot find one, a fact about their industry or area is fine. - Use the [cold email prompts](/prompts/coldemail/) for more openers, and the [who to call guide](/whotocall/) to pick the right title. - If you call too, the same A list is your call list for the week. ## What not to do - Do not trust every title and email in the export. People change jobs. Check your top people before you write. - Do not ask AI to "write 500 emails." Quality drops fast and your sending domain pays the price. - Do not invent a result or a customer name in the email. If you do not have proof yet, leave it out. ## FAQ ### Does Apollo have AI built in? Yes, Apollo has AI features for writing emails and research on some plans. You can use them inside Apollo, or copy these prompts into ChatGPT or Claude if you want more control. ### How many leads should I export at once? Export only what you will contact in the next week or two. Data goes stale, and exports can use credits on some plans. ### Can AI find emails for me? No. Chat tools like ChatGPT do not have a lead database and can make up emails. Get emails from Apollo or another data tool and use AI for sorting and writing. ### Should the emails be fully personal? Each email should have one line that is clearly about them. The rest can be the same for everyone in that group. That keeps it real and still fast.