How to automate your prospecting with Lusha

If you’re like most sales reps, you spend way too much time on manual prospecting tasks. Building lists, cleaning data, updating your CRM, remembering to follow up—it’s eating into your actual selling time.

The good news? You can automate most of this workflow with Lusha’s automation features. Here’s exactly how to set it up.

What you’ll automate

By the end of this guide, you’ll have:

• Fresh prospects automatically added to your lists daily
• Clean contact data flowing directly to your CRM
• Outreach sequences triggered automatically
• More time for actual selling

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Set up Subscribe to ICP Search

What it does: Automatically finds new prospects that match your criteria and adds them to your lists.

Time to set up: 3 minutes

How to do it:

1. Define your ideal prospect criteria

• Job titles (VP of Sales, Marketing Manager, etc.)
• Company size (50-500 employees)
• Industry (SaaS, Manufacturing, etc.)
• Location (specific cities, countries, or regions)

2. Run your search in Lusha

• Use the search filters to define your ICP
• Test the results to make sure they’re accurate
• Refine until you’re happy with the quality

3. Hit Subscribe

• Click the “Subscribe” button on your search results
• Choose how many new prospects you want per week (start with 10-15)
• Select which list they should be added to
• Set the frequency (daily, weekly, etc.)

Pro tip: Start conservative with volume. It’s easier to increase than to get overwhelmed with too many prospects.

Step 2: Enable AI Live Lists

What it does: Finds prospects similar to your best-performing contacts and adds them automatically.

Time to set up: 2 minutes

How to do it:

1. Turn on similar contacts

• Go to any existing prospect list
• Toggle on “Similar Contacts”
• Set the number of new prospects to add (5-10 to start)

2. Let Lusha AI learn from your data

• The system analyzes your successful contacts
• It finds patterns in job titles, company types, and industries
• New similar prospects get added automatically

Pro tip: This works best when you have at least 20-30 contacts in your list for the AI to learn from.

Step 3: Set up Auto Export to CRM

What it does: Automatically syncs new prospects to your CRM with clean, verified data.

Time to set up: 5 minutes

How to do it:

1. Connect your CRM

• Go to Integrations in your Lusha dashboard
• Connect Salesforce, HubSpot, or your preferred CRM
• Authorize the connection

2. Configure field mapping

• Choose which fields to sync (name, email, phone, company, etc.)
• Map them to the correct fields in your CRM
• Set up any custom fields you need

3. Choose your sync settings

• Select which lists should auto-sync
• Set the sync frequency (real-time or batched)
• Enable duplicate detection to keep your CRM clean

Pro tip: Start with essential fields only. You can always add more later.

Step 4: Automate outreach with Auto Sequence

What it does: Automatically enrolls new prospects in email sequences the moment they’re added to lists.

Time to set up: 10 minutes (including sequence creation)

How to do it:

1. Create or choose your email sequence

• Write a 3-5 email sequence for new prospects
• Include personalization tokens for name, company, etc.
• Set appropriate delays between emails (2-3 days)

2. Connect lists to sequences

• Go to your prospect list settings
• Enable “Auto Add to Sequence”
• Choose which sequence new prospects should enter
• Set any conditions (job title, company size, etc.)

3. Test the flow

• Add a test contact to your list
• Verify they get added to your CRM
• Confirm they enter the email sequence
• Check that the first email sends correctly

Pro tip: Use signal-based personalization like “Congratulations on your new role” for job change prospects.

Step 5: Monitor and optimize

What to track:

• Number of new prospects added weekly
• Email response rates
• Meeting booking rates
• CRM data quality

Weekly check-in (5 minutes):

• Review new prospects for quality
• Check response rates on automated sequences
• Adjust volume or criteria if needed
• Clean up any data issues

Monthly optimization (15 minutes):

• Analyze which prospect sources perform best
• Update email sequences based on response patterns
• Refine ICP criteria based on closed deals
• Scale up successful automations

Common setup mistakes to avoid

Starting with too high volume:
Begin with 10-15 new prospects per week. You can always increase once you’re comfortable with the flow.

Not testing the full workflow:
Always run a test contact through the entire process before going live.

Generic email sequences:
Use the context from why prospects were added (job change, company growth, etc.) in your messaging.

Set and forget mentality:
Check in weekly to ensure quality stays high and make adjustments as needed.

Troubleshooting common issues

“I’m getting too many low-quality prospects”

• Tighten your ICP criteria
• Reduce the volume temporarily
• Check if your source lists need cleaning

“My email sequences aren’t triggering”

• Verify your CRM integration is working
• Check that contacts have email addresses
• Confirm your sequence is active

“Prospects aren’t getting added to my CRM”

• Check your field mapping
• Verify CRM permissions
• Look for API limits or errors

Next steps

Once you have basic automation running, you can:

• Add intent signals to target prospects showing buying behavior
• Set up different sequences for different prospect types
• Create alerts for high-priority prospects (job changes, funding, etc.)
• Scale successful automations to cover more territories or personas

The bottom line

Automating your prospecting workflow isn’t just about saving time—it’s about consistency and timing. While your competitors are still building lists manually, you’re reaching prospects at exactly the right moment with relevant, timely outreach.

The setup takes about 30 minutes total. The time savings? Hours every week that you can spend actually talking to prospects and closing deals.

Ready to automate your prospecting? Start your free trial and set up your first automated workflow today.