How to use Prospector filters to find the right leads fast

The Prospector is SalesQL's lead search engine. You apply filters, it returns matching contacts — with verified emails, direct phones, or both. No guessing, no manual research.

This article covers every filter, what it does, and how to combine them to build targeted lists quickly.

Before you start: the credit logic

One credit = one contact with at least one email retrieved. That's it.

A few things worth knowing:

• If SalesQL finds multiple emails for the same contact, it still costs one credit
• Phone numbers are included at no extra cost on paid plans — you're never charged separately for them
• Credits are only deducted when an email is successfully retrieved — no email found, no charge

The better your filters, the fewer irrelevant contacts you download — and the further your credits go.

👉 How credits work

👉 Open Prospector

Short on time? AI Search

Click AI Search at the top of the filters panel and describe who you're looking for, for example: "Software engineers in the United States with 8+ years of experience at SaaS companies." The AI Filter Assistant sets the filters for you. It overwrites any filters you've already set, so use it before adding filters manually.

Contact Details — the most important filter

Set this one first, every time.

It controls what kind of contact data must exist before a result shows up. There are three sub-settings:

Data — Email and/or Phone Status — Verified and/or Unverified Type — Work and/or Direct

Recommended setups:

If you're running outbound calls, always filter for Direct + Verified before downloading. Biggest single impact on connect rates.

Person info filters

Contact full name

Search for a specific person by name. Best when you already know who you're looking for and just need their contact data.

Add Company Name to disambiguate common names — "John Smith" at "Acme Corp" returns one result instead of hundreds.

Location (Person)

Filter contacts by where they're personally located — city, state, or country.

Works well with: Job Title + Industry + Location → geo-targeted list in under a minute. Example: "Head of Marketing" + "E-commerce" + "London."

Job title

Filter by current role. Partial matches work — "VP" returns VP of Sales, VP of Marketing, VP of Engineering, and so on.

Stack it with Years: Add Years in Current Position (0–12 months) to find decision-makers who just stepped into the role. They're evaluating vendors and have budget authority.

Past job title

Find people based on a role they previously held — useful when someone's career history is as relevant as their current title.

Try it with: Past Job Title + Current Job Title to map career transitions. Example: ex-"Product Manager" now "Founder."

Years experience total

Filter by overall career length. Useful when your ICP is specifically senior professionals or early-career buyers.

Years in current position

How long someone has been in their current role. Shorter tenure often signals higher buying activity.

Years in Current Position 0–1 + Job Title Director or above + Company Type Private → new decision-makers at growing companies. One of the highest-converting setups in Prospector.

Industry (Person)

Filter by the industry the person works in — contact-level, not company-level. Useful when someone's background differs from their current company's primary industry.

Company info filters

Company name

Target contacts at a specific company. Returns everyone at that org with available data.

Add Job Title to map the buying committee at a target account. Example: "Stripe" + "VP, Director, Head of" → every senior stakeholder in one search.

Past company name

Find people who used to work at a specific company. Ex-employees carry institutional knowledge and are often warm to familiar vendors.

Past Company Name + Current Job Title Founder or CEO → people who left a known company to start their own. Strong signal filter for startup-focused outreach.

Year founded

Filter companies by when they were started. Early-stage companies (last 1–3 years) are actively building their stack.

Year Founded last 2 years + Headcount 10–50 + Industry SaaS or Tech → startups in their first major tooling wave.

Location (Company)

Filter by company HQ location — separate from where the individual contact is based. Use when territory is assigned by company HQ, not contact location.

Headcount

Company size shapes deal size, cycle length, buying process, and who the right contact is.

Industry (Company)

Filter by the company's primary vertical. The backbone of any ICP-focused campaign.

Industry + Headcount + Job Title + Contact Details Email Verified → fully-defined ICP list, ready to export.

Company type

Filter by ownership structure: private, public, non-profit, government, self-employed

Private + Headcount 50–200 + Year Founded 2019–2023 → venture-backed growth-stage companies. Funded, scaling, actively buying.

Ready-to-use filter combinations

Outbound email list Contact Details: Email + Work + Verified → Job Title → Industry → Headcount

Direct dial list Contact Details: Phone + Direct + Verified → Job Title Director or above → Company Location

New leader outreach Years in Current Position 0–12 months → Job Title Director or above → Company Type Private

Startup prospecting Year Founded last 3 years → Headcount 1–50 → Job Title CEO / Founder / CTO

Account-based (ABM) Company Name: your target accounts → Job Title: multiple levels → Contact Details: Email + Phone + Verified

Alumni targeting Past Company Name: major brand or competitor → Current Job Title: VP or C-suite

Professionals who moved countries Location (Person): Exclude the country they came from + Include the countries where they are now → Past Company Name: companies from their previous country → Industry: your target vertical → Years Experience Total: 10+ → Contact Details: Phone + Direct + Verified

Why it works: Great for reaching people who built their career in one country and relocated to another. To exclude a country, type it in the Location field, click on it to add it, and then hit Exclude. Then add the countries where they are now and leave those as Include.

Example: Ex-US tech professionals now based abroad → Location: Exclude United States + Include UAE, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia → Past Company: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta → Industry: IT / Software / Internet → Years Experience: 10+

Save your searches

Once you've built a combination that works, save it using the Saved Searches dropdown at the top of the sidebar. One click to rerun it anytime.

👉 Open Prospector

🗳️ Want to vote on which filter we should add first? Let us know here.