Find B2B customers with Apollo.io (Complete Guide 2025)

Leads always cost more.
SEO takes months to start working, if it works at all.
Ads have become a jungle: expensive, unstable and competitive.

Do you use Google Ads?
You're chasing a question already expressed, but you're in a queue with dozens of competitors. And each click costs you more and more.

Do you prefer Facebook Ads?
You fill your CRM with leads, and then you spend most of your time filtering them because you realize that few are really on target.

This is exhausting, slow and frustrating.

And I, after almost 20 years as a marketing consultant, don't feel like it anymore.
I leave the shaved ones the luxury of not keeping track of lost hours.

My free time is now sacred.

I spend it with my family, in the park, with my phone away and my mind light.

Thanks to Apollo.io, I only get on call with those who have the power (and intention) to invest in my services and those of my clients.

No more random leads mashing “Submit” on whatever form they come across.

(And I know they happen to you all the time, too).

That is why I work differently today.
Not looking for leads.
I choose them.
And Apollo.io gives me the power to do that.

In B2B, some things really seem like dreams-until you have them in front of you.

I give some examples. Real stories from my clients:

• If you sell training services, Have in hand, today, the list of the HR of leading Italian pharmaceutical companies, with first name, last name and email address, is a dream come true.
  
• Whether you offer consulting, management software or marketing services, being able to write directly to CEO, founder and manager of the companies in your region, without going through annoyed middlemen and pissed-off secretaries, is a dream you can realize. Now.

Apollo.io doesn't just help you “make leads.”.
It puts you in touch with the people who decide.
And it gives you the tools to do that In a fast, smart and personalized way.

In this guide you will find out:

1. How Apollo.io works
   A simple and concrete overview of what the platform actually does.
   
2. How to get 1,200 leads for free
   Take advantage of the free account to start generating real results.
   
3. Apollo.io is in English? No problem
   Translate everything into Italian with two clicks.
   
4. How to find ultra profiled B2B leads in just a few clicks
   Filter by role, industry, company, technology used, and more.
   
5. How to use Apollo with LinkedIn (spoiler: it works great)
   Combine Apollo and LinkedIn to increase response and connection.
   
6. How to create your first automatic email sequence
   Automations, follow-up, and structure of a campaign that converts.
   
7. What to write to your contacts
   The “pretend dummy” approach (and why it still works in 2025)
   
8. How to use artificial intelligence to write effective emails
   Have a robot write while preventing it from looking like ... a robot.
   
9. How to avoid spam and keep your domain's reputation high
   SPF, DKIM, warm-ups and practical tips for finishing inbox.
   
10. When (and if) it pays to switch to a pay-as-you-go plan
    Real differences between free and paid accounts: what really changes.
    
11. [BONUS] The strategies I use every day to find clients (and help my clients do so)
    Real cases, templates, and operational tips to put into practice immediately.

1. How it works Apollo.io

Apollo.io is a comprehensive B2B sales platform based on artificial intelligence, designed to help you find new customers, contact them in the right way, and grow your business.

Imagine being able to search for all the people in a certain role, in all the companies in a certain industry or working in a certain city.

Being able to send them an email written by you, or generated with the help of artificial intelligence , contact them by phone, monitor interest, e Do all this without ever leaving the platform.

Underlying it all is a Huge updated database of more than 210 million contacts and 35 million companies, with detailed information on roles, industries, technologies used, company size, and more.

But Apollo.io is not just a database.

It is an “end-to-end” system for lead generation:

• It helps you to finding the right people (with advanced filters)
  
• It allows you to writing and sending cold emails in automated sequence
  
• And it supports you with AI functionality For writing, optimization and training

In practice, it is Everything you need to do B2B outreach effectively, scalably, and without waste.

2. How to get 1,200 leads for FREE

This article is going to be a good long one, because I want to make a real comprehensive guide available to you.
But my advice is: immediately start taking advantage of Apollo.io, it's free anyway.

So I invite you to do the following, so you can follow this guide step by step and Get your first 1,200 free leads right away.

If you have already signed up elsewhere, I suggest you use a new email address and register again through my link.

Now let's do an exercise

Think of an ideal target audience for your products or services.

• All the HR of pharmaceutical companies based in Lombardy having at least 1,000 employees?
  
• All the CEO, founder and manager of Latium?
  
• Or all the people who work in Florence?
  

The latter is a bit of a generic target audience, I know, but if you're a real estate agent desperately looking for someone who wants to sell their home--that can work too.

Remember: by signing up through my link you get 1,200 free leads, and if you want 120,000, you only pay 0.007 each, so you can afford to experiment.

Let's keep it simple:

1,200 free leads.
You only need to convert 0.08% to get back your investment.
Oh right: the investment is zero.

3. Is Apollo.io in English? No problem

Alas, Apollo.io is only available in English.
But fear not, nothing is lost!

WHEREAS, if you can remember that:

• campaigns means campaigns
• people means people
• access email means sign in to email
• Lists means lists

... you can safely use Apollo.io even as it is.

But if you prefer to view the whole interface in Italian, it takes only two clicks.

If you are using Google Chrome, it is enough for you:

• click with the right button of the mouse on the page
• select “Translate to Italian”

If you use Firefox, you can:

• click on the icon top right next to the favorites star
• then select “Translate”

And voila: Apollo.io in Italian, no plugins, no stress.

4. How to find ultra profiled B2B leads in just a few clicks

Now that you have opened your account, all you have to do is click on the “People” section.

This is where the fun begins.
Now we need to set up filters to bring up exactly the audience you are interested in.

1. Start with the “Job title” section.”

Enter any terms that may reflect the role of the person you are looking for.
There are millions of HRs that are not called “HR” in the title.
And there are CEOs, founders, ceo and founders, ceo president--in short, write down all the sensible variations.

2. Do you want to search companies you already know?

Go to “Company & Lookalikes.”.
You can enter precise names of companies or ask Apollo to show you similar realities.

3. Click on “Location”

Do you want contacts in specific regions, provinces or cities?
Here you can enter, for example, “Lombardy,” “Rome,” or “Italy.”.
If you don't want international contacts, just type in “Italy” and you're done.

4. Filter by number of employees

Use the “Employees” field if you want companies above a certain threshold (e.g., at least 50 employees).

5. Specific industry? Go to “Industry & Keywords”

If you are only interested in pharmaceutical companies, construction, tech, etc., you can narrow it down here.

6. Did you find too many contacts?

Tighten the filters.
Too few? Be less strict.

7. Now click on “Access email” and watch the magic

The person's email address will appear.
Each unblocked email consumes 1 credit.

No problem: the free plan gives you 100 credits per month, equal to 1,200 contacts per year.
If you need more credits, you can switch to a paid plan.

8. Do you also want the phone number?

Click on the contact, then on “Access mobile”-for the cost of 5 credits, you will also get the person's direct number.

9. Organize your contacts into a list

Use the “Add to lists” button to start building your campaigns.
Do you want to see the LinkedIn profile?
Click on the contact, then on the LinkedIn icon next to the name.

Now that you understand how to access 1,200 B2B contacts a year, you are beginning to see what Apollo.io can really do.

5. How to use Apollo with LinkedIn (spoiler: it works great)

Okay, you learned how to get 1,200 contacts a year for free, drawing from the lists of Apollo.io, But maybe you are more used to looking for people on LinkedIn.

The problem? Connection requests are limited.
Would you like to send a request with an accompanying note?

No more than 5 per month.

And LinkedIn merely reminds you that, to exceed these limits, you must sign up for their premium service, the cost of which can exceed 1,000 euros per year.

And even with the paid account-it's not like the limits go away.

My friend, all you have to do is browse LinkedIn using Google Chrome and install the free Apollo.io extension.

In doing so, a window will open next to each contact you visit on LinkedIn that will allow you to get his or her contact information, provided that person is on Apollo's lists.

You will also be able to add these users to one or more lists, or put them directly into a sequence.

Caution though: LinkedIn's integration into Apollo is only partially automated.

Apollo can assign you tasks to do (e.g., send request, visit profile, send message), but does not perform them alone.

You have to go to the Tasks of Apollo and click on a button-this will open LinkedIn in the browser and automatically perform 25 actions at a time.
Then you can click again to continue with the next batch, and so on.

A limitation? Not really. This semi-automatic system is designed specifically for Prevent LinkedIn from blocking you or flagging you as spam.

Emails you can send to thousands of people, but on LinkedIn it's a different story: it's best to take your time there.

Find the extension in the official Google store

Okay but, what is a sequence? We'll see in the next chapter.

6. How to create your first automatic email sequence

Okay, now you have access to contacts. But-what are you doing with it?

Do you manually add them to your CRM? Do you write them one email at a time?

1,200 handwritten emails are -- 1,200 handwritten emails. And that is not a metaphor.

And this is where sequencing comes in.

With Apollo's free plan you can have 2 active sequences, while with a premium plan you can create as many as you want.

What are sequences?
They are exactly what ActiveCampaign calls automations and what HubSpot or GHL call workflows.

An example of a simple sequence

• 1st email
  
• Wait 3 days
  
• 2nd email
  
• Wait 4 days
  
• 3rd email
  

A complete (real) sequence on Apollo may instead look like this:

1. 1st email + send connection request on LinkedIn with personalized message
   
2. Wait 2 days
   
3. Visit the contact's LinkedIn profile + interact with one of his or her posts
   
4. Wait 1 day
   
5. 2nd email
   
6. Wait 3 days
   
7. 3rd email + message on LinkedIn
   
8. Wait 3 days
   
9. If no response: manual task, phone contact
   

But it didn't end there

Icing on the cake: emails sent by Apollo are better than those sent by CRMs.

Why?
Because they are sent directly from your inbox, not from CRM servers (which are increasingly being penalized today by providers such as Gmail, Outlook and company).

Emails sent from Apollo.io you will see in your outbox.

Do you understand how simple it is?

• Create one or more sequences
• Browse Apollo or LinkedIn
• Add all the contacts you are interested in to the sequence

At that point, you just have to wait for leads to respond.

7. What to write to your contacts?

By now I have sent millions of emails through Apollo.io, and I can tell you one thing: there is no magic formula.

However, there are approaches that test after test, continue to work better than others.

In particular, I recommend that you try the following. two, which in B2B generate more concrete answers for me and my clients.

Which one is the best? I don't know. Nobody knows.
The truth is in the numbers.

Use Apollo.io's A/B testing feature, put them to the test and see for yourself what works best for your contacts and your industry, or click here to book a call with me so that I can help you achieve the goals you deserve.

1st approach - The dummy

Most of the time I opt for this approach.
He is polite, direct, disarming.
He is not trying to sell, but neither is he hiding.

Show muscle without being a show-off.

With this approach we enter other people's homes with kindness, appealing to their curiosity, but without giving up positioning ourselves.

2nd approach - The peer comparison

Here you are not talking from supplier to potential customer, but from person interested in useful discussion.
It works very well with medium-high figures, especially if your service has a strong consulting value.

You don't talk about yourself right away. You don't show your customers right away.
Start with a question, and ask for cooperation.

To some, this approach may seem too soft.
For others, it will be just the key to getting answers that do not normally come.

But the point is not how direct you are or how formal you are.

The point is that you are looking for a dialogue. An opening. A minimal opening

And at this point, the most important rule of all comes into play.

1 email = 1 CTA

Initiating a dialogue and booking a call are two CTAs.
Starting a dialogue and reading a PDF are two CTAs.

Responding to your email pointing you to the right person is one CTA.
And that's the one you're interested in getting.

In the email examples I showed you, see:

• A link to book a call?
• A link to a 1,000-page presentation?

No.
Because no one will read a presentation without context, and no one will book a call with a stranger.

First you start a dialogue, ask lots of questions, give lots of answers, and then at that point you sell.

Other approaches? If you really want to.

Are there different approaches?
Yes.

ChatGPT looks forward to recommending a thousand more?
Certainly.

Are they often ugly, already seen, impersonal, and robotic?
You could say that.

I'll leave you with six here, which I think are the best among those obtainable with artificial intelligence.
I use them very rarely, but maybe you can find something that suits you.

1. Curious approach/teaser 👎

Subject: short question, %recipient_name%

Hi %recipient_name%,
working with companies similar to yours in the %sector% area, we discovered an unusual way to solve %problem_common%.
In two lines it doesn't fit everything, but if it makes sense to you, can I send a quick overview?

Pros:

• It leverages curiosity
  
• Triggers clutchless response
  

2. Proactive idea approach 👍👍👍

Subject: I have an idea for %company_name%

Hi %recipient_name%,
I took a look at %something_specific_about_the_company% and came up with an idea that might help you %result_expected%.
Can I send you a brief recap to see if it makes sense to go further?

Pros:

• Show initiative
  
• It looks customized even though it is semi-automatic
  

3. Benchmark / A/B testing approach 👍

Subject: Comparison results in the %sector% sector.

Good morning %recipient_name%,
we are doing a comparison of %sector% companies to see how they are doing on %theme%.
Can I include your reality as well, so you can share a snapshot with benchmarks?

Pros:

• Stimulates participation
  
• Fits well with those who propose tools, reports, or consulting
  

4. Latent problem approach 👎👍

Subject: %sector% - An inconspicuous (but costly) risk

Hi %recipient_name%,
many companies in your industry are losing opportunities on %theme_specific%, simply because they have not yet mapped %problem_latent%.
Can I show you how we are solving it for similar companies?

Pros:

• It leverages real insight
  
• Activates interest even in those who were not looking for anything
  

5. Expert positioning approach 👎

Subject: What works (and what doesn't) in 2025

Good morning %recipient_name%,
for over %years% help companies in the %sector% sector to nefit%.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that %mito_to_mount%.
Can I show you an alternative that we are using with very good results?

Pros:

• Builds authority
  
• Works well with already attentive decision makers
  

6. Hyper-straight and respectful approach 👎

Subject: Can I send you a proposal?

Good morning %recipient_name%,
my name is 1TP3Your_name%, I work in 1TP3Company% and we help realities like yours to nefit%.
I don't want to waste your time: can I send you a short proposal to see if it would be helpful?

Pros:

• Zero fuffa
  
• Works with buyers, managers and operational people
  

---

I am not saying that among these there is not something that might work for you.
I'm just saying that people buy from other people.

If you send an email in which you sound annoyed, impatient or, even worse, robotic...
You're not building trust. You're just taking up space in their inbox.

Since I know that sooner or later you will ask ChatGPT what to write, I wanted to play it by ear.

So at least the first email you send Will be worthy of you.

My personal advice

If you don't know where to start, start with the first approach: the dummy.

That's what I use most of the time, because it works.
It doesn't bother, it shows your value without flaunting it, and it asks for only one thing: contact.

Try it, test it, customize it.
And then, if it really doesn't bring you results, come back here and fish out the others, or click here And book a call with me.

8. How to use artificial intelligence to write effective emails

Currently, Apollo.io's AI feature for automatic email writing is available only in English.

If you operate in the international market, you can test it right away.

Here's how to do it:

1. Open or create a new sequence
   
2. Click on “Add step” and select “Automatic email”
   
3. On the right side you will find the “Full AI Email” button.”
   
4. Enter some information about your company (in English)
   
5. If you have a site in English, Apollo will analyze the content to understand who you are and what you offer
   

A concrete example

If you sell wellness products and are contacting a project manager, you might get a message like this:

Hi Mario,

As a project manager, you know how important it is to stay focused and energized.

Our wellness products are designed to help professionals like you maintain balance and productivity throughout the day.

Let us know if you'd like to learn more about how we can support your team's wellbeing.

Best,  

Fabio

Want to personalize emails with AI in Italian?

If you want to use artificial intelligence to write personalized emails in Italian for each contact, it can be done.

But not with a click.

Need An advanced integration between Apollo.io and ChatGPT, tailored to your goals, tone and industry.

If you are interested in creating such a system, contact me.
I can help you design it so that each email looks like it is handwritten, even if it is not.

Do you want to do it too?
Contact me-I can help you set up the whole system tailored to your industry, in Italian, so that every email looks like it's handwritten.

9. How to avoid spam and maintain the reputation of your domain

If you're just using Apollo to send the occasional email, with the free account, there's no need to complicate your life.
You can also use your primary email.

But if your goal is do outreach in a systematic way, reach 60,000 contacts with a Basic plan, o 120,000 with a Professional plan, then you need a proper structure.

And no, you can't use the email you use every day to talk to customers, suppliers, or the IRS.

Why?

Because if you start sending 50-100 emails a day from that address and you end up even once in spam, you could compromise the reputation of the entire domain, and with him your whole business.

Therefore:

• If you use Apollo lightly, you are free to ignore this chapter
  
• If you want to do outreach professionally, read it twice
  

What is deliverability and why it matters

SPAM is not a mystery. It is a matter of reputation and technical settings.

Apollo helps keep your reputation high: it sends emails in a phased manner, and by default Does not allow more than 50 emails per day per inbox.

This limit protects you and your results. But if you want to increase it, there are rules.

If you have a free or Basic plan

You can connect a single mailbox.
In this case, that's enough for you:

• buy one dedicated domain (e.g., abc.com)
  
• create one email to be used for sending (e.g., mario@abc.com)
  
• activate Google Workspace for that email (6€/month)
  
• use a warm-up service as MailReach (25$/month, for 2-3 months)
  
• set up a redirect from abc.com to abc.it, so if someone checks the email address or clicks on the domain, they still end up on your official site

This maintains your credibility even if you are only using a secondary domain to send emails.

If you have a Professional plan

You can connect up to 5 inboxes. But don't use them all on the same domain.

My advice:

• buy 3 distinct domains
  
• creates 2 emails for the first 2 domains, e 1 email for the third domain
  
• activate Google Workspace on all of them ($6/box)
  
• do warm-ups with MailReach before you start sending
  

Example: if your main domain is abc.it, you could buy:

• abc.com
  
• abc.co
  
• abc.net
  So you maintain consistency with the brand but separate technical identities, and each domain hosts only 1 or 2 email accounts.
  

Why only 2 emails per domain?

Because in this way distribute the risk. If one inbox is flagged as spam, the others remain protected. It is a basic principle of digital hygiene.

How much can you send?

• Apollo sets an initial limit of 50 emails per day per box
  
• With good segmentation and well-written texts, you can gradually increase to 200-300 emails per day per inbox
  
• With 5 inboxes, you can get to over 30,000 emails per month
  
• Do you want more? You can add extra inbox for a fee
  

How much does it cost to have maximally optimized deliverability?

Scenario	What is needed	Total investment
Free or Basic account	One domain, 1 email, 1 Google Workspace, 1 MailReach account	169€ per year
Professional Account	3 domains, 5 total emails (2+2+1), 5 Workspace, 5 MailReach	825€ per year

10. When (and if) it pays to switch to a pay-as-you-go plan

The free plan is a great place to start.
It gives you access to 100 new contacts every month, perfect for those who are taking their first steps or want to test Apollo.io without commitment.

But beware:
If you don't use those 100 credits within the month, you lose them.
Set a reminder and take advantage of them. Every month.

Basic plan - 60,000 contacts per year, 1 mailbox

Price:

• $59/month (~€53)
  
• $588/year (~€523)
  

Available contacts:

• Monthly plan: 5,000 contacts per month, non-accumulative
  
• Annual plan: 60,000 total contacts available immediately
  

Technical limit:

• You can connect a single mailbox
  
• Realistically, you will be able to send 1,100 - 2,200 emails per month from that box
  
• But you can unlock contacts today and use them gradually over time
  

What do you get more than the free plan:

• published job ads (useful for HR and change-focused sales)
  
• Access to advanced filters, to find companies based on:
  
  • turnover
    
  • investments received
    
  • technologies used (CRM, software, servers...)
    

If you want to scale neatly, but don't need to manage multiple mailboxes, the annual Basic is a great solution: you have 60,000 contacts unlocked immediately e time to handle them calmly.

Professional Plan - 120,000 contacts per year, up to 5 boxes

Price:

• $99/month (~€88)
  
• $948/year (~843€)
  

Available contacts:

• Monthly plan: 10,000 contacts per month, non-accumulative
  
• Annual plan: 120,000 total contacts available immediately
  

Email sending:

• You can connect up to 5 inboxes
  
• With 100 emails/day per inbox, over 22 working days, you can send over 11,000 emails per month
  

Additional features:

• Unlimited sequences (email, LinkedIn, tasks, phone calls)
  
• Integrated reservation system for call
  
• Advanced reporting
  
• Recorded phone calls up to 66 hours/month
  
• Automated lead search with AI
  
• Direct integration with CRM: Salesforce, Hubspot, Pipedrive
  

The Professional is designed for those who want to Deeply structure and automate their outreach system, working on high volumes and flows that get the most out of each lead.

Why annual subscription is often the best choice

• You have all contacts available now
  
• Don't risk losing credit at the end of the month
  
• You can plan for the long term
  
• Save 20% compared to the cost of 12 monthly renewals
  

Not sure which plan to choose?

Book a free call with me-I will help you figure out which plan best fits your goals and how to make the most of it.

In the meantime, I ask you for a small favor:
Activate your free account through my affiliate link. It costs you nothing and allows me to provide you with my bonuses, including my free consulting hours should you decide to invest in a paid plan in the future.

https://get.apollo.io/3bxxqb3iww9n

If, on the other hand, you need a hand in building your cold outreach strategy from scratch, I offer several consulting packages, including turnkey paths for Manage your entire outbound business, 365 days a year.

If you don't see the calendar click here.

11. [BONUS] The strategies I use every day to find clients (and help my clients do so)

This is the most concrete and valuable chapter of the guide.

It contains real examples, emails that work, and the exact strategies I use every day to find clients for myself and my clients.

However, I have already exceeded 5,500 words with this guide, and I have 7,000 more to share with you to make sure you have all the information you need to build the strategy your business deserves.

Therefore, I have compiled the information on advanced functions into a detailed guide.

To receive it for free, just fill out this form:

Topics covered in the guide to Apollo.io:

• Intent Data and Website Tracking
  Find out which companies are actively seeking solutions like yours or visiting your site, even without leaving a trace in the forms.
  
• Data Enrichment and Email Verification
  Apollo automatically updates and verifies your contact information, improving data quality and reducing bounces.
  
• Outbound Copilot and Workflow Automation
  It automates the entire process of finding, assigning and contacting leads. You set the rules, Apollo works for you.
  
• Conversation Intelligence
  It records calls, transcribes them with AI, and immediately shows you highlights, objections, next steps. Perfect for not forgetting anything and improving the pitch.
  
• Integrated Dialer and Voicemail Drop
  Call directly from Apollo, leave pre-recorded voice messages, and monitor all conversations in a single dashboard.
  
• Apollo Meetings (Calendly integrated)
  Have appointments booked directly from your Apollo link, synchronized with your calendar, without using external tools.
  
• Advanced Reporting and Dashboards
  Measure every activity: response rates, email opens, successful calls, deals generated. All tracked, all visible.
  
• Deal and Pipeline Management (Apollo Deals)
  If you don't have a CRM, you can also use Apollo to track your negotiations by dragging and dropping them between stages like a Trello board.
  
• Deep Integrations (CRM, Slack, Zapier)
  Connect Apollo to Salesforce, HubSpot, Gmail, Slack, Zapier and many other tools. Data flows, activities align.
  
• Team Management, Permission and Coaching
  Create shared sequences, set team permissions, listen to calls and give feedback in real time. Ideal for selling better, together.
  
• AI-Based Lead Scoring
  Assigns automatic scores to leads based on their potential, using custom rules or Apollo's AI engine. It helps you prioritize who is closest to conversion.
  
• Snippets and Shared Templates
  Create reusable blocks of text and team-shared email templates for fast, consistent writing with fewer errors.
  
• AI SDR & Custom Sequences
  Apollo is testing (and gradually releasing) a system of AI SDR which creates whole sequences tailored to each prospect, combining AI, public data and internal insights. Still in beta for some users, but it is the future.

You've already seen how to use Apollo.io to find contacts, create sequences, and write effective emails. But if you really want to tap the full potential of the platform, these advanced features will become your trump card.