How to Use Clay for B2B Prospecting

Clay is a prospecting and enrichment platform that connects dozens of data providers into a single workflow. It doesn't just find contacts -- it researches them, scores them, and routes them to the right outreach sequence. Used well, it's the core of an agentic outbound system. Used poorly, it generates expensive garbage faster.

What Does Clay Actually Do?

Most people use Clay as a contact finder. That's a fraction of what it does.

• Enrichment: pull data from 75+ providers in a single workflow
• Waterfall logic: try Provider A, fall back to B, then C -- stop when you have what you need
• AI research: Claygent browses the web and synthesizes account intelligence
• Scoring: build formulas that score accounts on fit and signal
• Automation: trigger workflows based on CRM events, webhooks, or schedules
• Sequencer integration: push enriched, scored contacts directly to your email tool

Think of Clay as the operating system for your outbound stack. Everything flows through it.

What Should You Define Before Touching Clay?

Clay amplifies your targeting decisions -- good or bad. If your ICP is wrong, Clay will find the wrong people faster and cheaper.

• Company size: headcount range and revenue range
• Industry: be specific -- not 'tech' but 'B2B SaaS with sales teams over 10 reps'
• Geography: which countries or regions
• Tech stack signals: what tools do your best customers use
• Exclusions: what company types should never enter your pipeline
• Contact titles: the 3–5 titles most likely to own your problem

Document this before you open Clay. It becomes your scoring model.

How Do You Build a Clay Table from Scratch?

1. 1Create a new table -- this is your prospecting workspace
2. 2Import your seed list: companies from your CRM, a CSV, or a LinkedIn Sales Nav export
3. 3Add a domain column and normalize it -- everything downstream depends on a clean domain
4. 4Run company enrichment first: headcount, revenue, industry, location
5. 5Filter rows that don't match your ICP before spending credits on contact finding
6. 6Run contact enrichment for qualifying companies: find decision-makers by title
7. 7Run email enrichment: waterfall across providers to maximize coverage
8. 8Run email verification: only deliverable emails proceed

How Do You Build an Enrichment Waterfall?

An enrichment waterfall queries multiple data providers in sequence. If Provider A finds the email, stop. If not, try Provider B. This maximizes coverage while minimizing cost.

A well-built waterfall gets 70–85% email coverage on a clean ICP list. Under 60% usually means your ICP includes too many small or obscure companies.

How Do You Build an Account Scoring Model in Clay?

Account scoring in Clay uses formula columns. You assign points to signals and sum them into a score. Accounts above the threshold advance to outreach.

• Headcount in ICP range: +20 points
• Revenue in ICP range: +15 points
• Uses a relevant tool in their tech stack: +20 points
• Recent funding event (last 6 months): +15 points
• Relevant job posting active: +15 points
• Industry exact match: +10 points
• Geography match: +5 points

Threshold: 60+ points advances to outreach. 40–59 goes to a review queue. Under 40 is excluded.

Adjust weights based on what your best customers actually look like. The model should reflect your real win rate signals -- not gut instinct.

What Is Claygent and When Should You Use It?

Claygent is Clay's AI browsing agent. It can visit any URL, extract information, and answer freeform questions about a company.

• Summarize a company's main product from their homepage
• Find the most recent press release or news mention
• Identify what problem they solve and who they serve
• Extract pricing page information
• Find the LinkedIn headline of a specific contact
• Determine if a company is a competitor, partner, or prospect

Claygent costs more credits than structured enrichment. Use it only after accounts have passed scoring. Don't run it on your full table.

How Do You Connect Clay to Your Sequencer?

Clay pushes contacts to your sequencer via webhook. When a row meets your export criteria -- verified email, score above threshold, no CRM match -- Clay fires the webhook automatically.

1. 1Create a view with your export filter (score ≥ 60, email_status = deliverable, crm_match = false)
2. 2Add a webhook column -- Clay fires this when the row enters the view
3. 3Map fields: email, first name, company, and any custom variables your sequence uses
4. 4Add a 'pushed' boolean column -- prevents duplicate enrollments if Clay re-evaluates the row
5. 5Test with 3–5 rows before enabling for the full table

What Are the Most Common Clay Mistakes?

• Running enrichment before filtering -- you'll spend 3x more credits than necessary
• Skipping email verification -- unverified emails bounce and damage your domain
• Not deduplicating against your CRM -- you'll email existing customers or open opportunities
• Using Claygent on the full table -- reserve it for accounts that passed scoring
• No 'pushed' gate on the webhook -- contacts get enrolled multiple times
• Treating Clay as a one-time export -- it should run continuously as new accounts qualify
• Building everything in one table -- separate your enrichment, scoring, and export logic

What Does a Production Clay Workflow Look Like?

This structure runs continuously. New signals enter the top. Qualified, researched, verified contacts exit the bottom into your sequencer. Your reps see only contacts that passed every gate.