Recipes / Research a prospect, then add them to an Instantly campaign

Research a prospect, then add them to an Instantly campaign

Perplexity + Apollo + Instantly

Who it's for

SDRs and founders who send cold email and want one researched, personalized first line per lead before it goes into a sequence.

What you get

Research notes and an opening line for one prospect. Sample output: every company and person in it is fictional.

Prospect: Priya Raman, VP of Sales, Fernhill Software (fictional)
Email: [email protected] (verified)

What changed recently (with sources):
- Series B announced 6 weeks ago; press release says the money goes to 'doubling the sales team' [1]
- 11 open SDR roles on the careers page [2]
- Priya posted about ramp time for new reps 3 weeks ago [3]

Opening line:
"Saw Fernhill is hiring 11 SDRs after the Series B. Your post on ramp time made me think the
first 90 days are where you'll feel it most."

Ready to add to campaign 'Q4 Fintech, paused'. Payload shown below. Add it?

Time and cost

Estimate About 5–10 minutes per prospect.

Assumptions: One prospect: one Apollo person lookup and enrichment, one or two Perplexity searches, one Instantly lead added.

• Perplexity: One or two searches. Every call uses credits. Tool calls are billed at standard Perplexity API pricing to the connected API key or to the API organization chosen at sign-in; the organization's rate limits apply. Source: docs.perplexity.ai, checked 2026-10-16
• Apollo: One person search, plus one enrichment to get the work email. Some tools use credits. Company search, company enrichment (single and bulk), company job postings, and people enrichment (single and bulk) use credits; people/contact search, CRM, sequence, email, task and analytics actions do not. Get conversation insights uses credits only if the conversation has AI insights. Source: docs.apollo.io, checked 2026-10-16
• Instantly: Reads your campaign list, plus one lead added after you approve it. Credit use not confirmed by Instantly.

Exact credit costs depend on your plan with each vendor. Check the tool pages before a large run.

MCP servers

Every server is confirmed in: ClaudeCursor

• Perplexity Up · auth
  ClaudeClaude CodeCursorRead onlyEvery call uses credits
  https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp
• Apollo Up · auth
  ClaudeChatGPTClaude CodeCursorCopilotRead + writeSome tools use credits
  https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp
• Instantly Up · auth
  ClaudeCursorRead + writeCredits not confirmed
  https://mcp.instantly.ai/mcp

Set up in a chat app

Every server in this recipe is confirmed for Claude. Connect each one, then paste the prompts below into one conversation.

• Connect Perplexity without code (Claude)
• Connect Apollo without code (Claude, ChatGPT)
• Connect Instantly without code (Claude)

Developer setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "url": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp"
      // headless alternative: "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" }
    },
    "apollo": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp"
      // headless alternative: "headers": { "X-Api-Key": "YOUR_APOLLO_API_KEY" }
    },
    "instantly": {
      "url": "https://mcp.instantly.ai/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "YOUR_INSTANTLY_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Step-by-step prompts

Copy all prompts

1. Find the VP of Sales at {company} in Apollo and enrich their work email.
2. Use Perplexity to research {company}: recent news, funding, hiring, and anything the VP has posted publicly in the last 90 days. Cite sources.
3. Write one personalized opening line based on the research. No flattery and no made-up facts.
4. List my Instantly campaigns. Show me the payload for adding this lead to the campaign I pick, with the opening line in a custom variable. Add it only after I approve it.

Run it on a schedule (optional)

• Batch it: run once a day over a short list of new target accounts, with a set limit on prospects per run.
• In a scheduled run, save leads and opening lines to a review list or a paused campaign. Nothing should start sending unattended.
• Instantly authenticates with an API key, which works for headless runs. Keep the key in your client's secret settings, not in the prompt.

Where this goes wrong

• Invented personalization. The model may 'remember' a podcast or post that doesn't exist. Require a source link for every fact used in the opening line, and delete any line whose source you can't open.
• Wrong person. Similarly named VPs, or someone who changed jobs last month, get matched confidently. Confirm the title and company against a second source before writing.
• The lead starts receiving email immediately. Adding a lead to an active campaign can trigger sending. Only add leads to a paused campaign, and read the payload first.
• Stale news. Search results can include year-old funding news. Ask for the date next to each item, and ignore anything older than 90 days.

Gotchas

• Apollo enrichment spends credits.
• Adding a lead to an active Instantly campaign can trigger sending. Add leads to a paused campaign, or review first.
• The Instantly API key goes in a header or the URL path. Treat any config that contains it as a secret, and don't commit it.
• Ask for citations from Perplexity and drop any claim you can't verify.

Download

Get the prompts, guardrails and expected output as one Markdown file. Paste it into a Claude Project or ChatGPT project's instructions, or save it as CLAUDE.md for Claude Code.

Download research-prospect-instantly.md

Vendor sites: Perplexity · Apollo · Instantly. If we join an affiliate program, these links will be labeled as affiliate links.