Effective Methods to Identify Decision-Makers at Companies

Donát Hordós · 2025-04-03 09:29:30.061183+00

Hey, What’s the best way to find decision-makers at a specific company? Previously, I used to add the company domain and then click on _Actions > Find people at these companies_, where I’d input the job titles I was looking for. However, this method doesn’t always return all the relevant people — and sometimes it gives no results at all. Recently, I discovered another method in Clay using the template _"Find key decision makers at any company with just a website URL"_. It uses the _Find & Enrich Person from Google Search_ step, where I can add a custom query (e.g. “CEO of [company name]”) to search directly via Google, which often leads me to the right person. Would you say this approach is more reliable than the _Find contacts at these companies_ method? Or are there settings I might be missing that could improve the accuracy of the original method?

Effective Methods to Identify Decision-Makers at Companies | Clay

13 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Channeled
APP
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Yes, the "Find key decision makers at any company with just a website URL" method using the "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" step is generally more reliable than the "Find contacts at these companies" method. This approach uses Google search to find decision makers, which often leads to more accurate and up-to-date results. It allows you to customize the search criteria for specific titles, increasing the chances of finding relevant people. The method also includes waterfall enrichment to find work emails, enhancing the overall quality of the information obtained. If you need further assistance or have more questions, please feel free to ask here in the chat.
Sources: Find Key Decision Makers at any Company with just a Website URL | Clay Claybooks: Find key decisions makers and their emails using only a company URL | Clay.com
Summiya
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Use claygent metaprompter to find teh decesion makers..it will gives you better results.
🙌1
Channeled
APP
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To use Claygent Metaprompter for finding decision-makers more effectively: 1. Navigate to the enrichment panel in your Clay workspace. 2. Look for Claygent under the AI section in Tools. 3. Use preset templates or create a custom prompt using the S.P.I.C.E. framework. 4. Input the company name or domain. 5. Craft a specific prompt to find decision-makers, e.g., "Find C-level executives and VPs at [company]". 6. Claygent will search the web and extract relevant information. 7. You can run additional Claygent calls to analyze and summarize the found data. This approach allows for more targeted and comprehensive searches compared to traditional methods.
Sources: Claygent: AI Web Scraper [Clay 101] - Clay University Claygent: AI Web Scraper [Limitless Research] - Clay University 11 AI Prompts to Automate Prospect Research with Claygent [Automated Outbound] - Clay University
Channeled
APP
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Stephanie Holland
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I think you can use ExportApollo to target a specific company and extract decision makers with emails.
🙌1
Channeled
APP
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I apologize, but I can't provide information about using ExportApollo, as it's not a Clay product or feature. Instead, I can tell you about Clay's method for finding decision-makers and their emails using only a company URL. Clay offers a template called "Find key decision makers at any company with just a website URL". This template uses Google search and Clay's enrichment capabilities to find and verify decision-makers' contact information. Here's a brief overview of how it works: 1. You start by entering a company domain into the Clay table. 2. Clay then uses a customized Google search to find potential decision-makers. 3. The system enriches the data to verify and find work emails for these individuals. This method is designed to be efficient and accurate, allowing you to quickly identify key contacts at your target companies. Would you like more details about how to use this Clay template for finding decision-makers?
Source: Claybooks: Find key decisions makers and their emails using only a company URL | Clay.com
Alexander Farr
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"Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" is not really working for me. For >60% of results the person is not working at the company I am asking to find candidates at. Is there something I can do to finetune or another way to find the right person?
Loading attachments
Channeled
APP
·
·
To improve the accuracy of the "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" step in Clay, try refining your search queries using more specific Google search operators. For example, include the company name, job title, and use operators like site:[[linkedin.com](http://linkedin.com)]([https://linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com)) or intitle: to target LinkedIn profiles that mention both the company and the desired role. This helps narrow results to people who are more likely to actually work at the target company. Additionally, review and adjust your search parameters and filters to better target the desired profiles. If you continue to see inaccuracies, consider using the "Find People" action in Clay, which allows you to filter by company, job title, seniority, and more. This method can help you build highly targeted lists by layering people search on top of enriched company data. Combining these approaches—refined Google queries and Clay’s built-in people search with filters—can significantly improve the relevance and accuracy of your results.
Sources: Find & Enrich Person from Google Search with Companies, People, Jobs Enrich Person with "Companies, People, and Jobs" | Clay.com Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Smit (Clay)
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Hi Donát, thank you for reaching out! Do you mind sending the link (url) to the table so we can take a look?
(52 kB)
Alexander Farr
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Thanks Smit! See column "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" in https://app.clay.com/workspaces/277954/workbooks/wb_0sy69zlaCGkUPyMF9TD/tables/t_0sycakikBUXDonsQTmW/views/gv_0sycakiK6WcsTC5AGtP
Smit (Clay)
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Thanks for sharing the table. I checked and I believe the issue is because we don't have that person's name, we are basing it off on a job title and company name. Hence, there's no reliable results. I'd say if you are trying to find people at those companies, then you should rather use 'Find Contacts at Company' enrichment, the only limitation here is that the max number of people it will return is 10.
Alexander Farr
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Thanks Smit (Clay): Re "Find contacts at people" is there a workaround that I can either write it to another table but then only use static filters or use column references (different filters in each row) but then I cannot natively write into another table? Or am I missing sth here?
Smit (Clay)
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Heyy, when you are using 'Find Contacts at Company' you can set column reference in the enrichment setup so you can use different filters. Then you can run the 'Write to Another Table' enrichment to write those found people to a new common table.

Channeled
APP
·
·
Yes, the "Find key decision makers at any company with just a website URL" method using the "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" step is generally more reliable than the "Find contacts at these companies" method. This approach uses Google search to find decision makers, which often leads to more accurate and up-to-date results. It allows you to customize the search criteria for specific titles, increasing the chances of finding relevant people. The method also includes waterfall enrichment to find work emails, enhancing the overall quality of the information obtained. If you need further assistance or have more questions, please feel free to ask here in the chat.
Sources: Find Key Decision Makers at any Company with just a Website URL | Clay Claybooks: Find key decisions makers and their emails using only a company URL | Clay.com
Summiya
·
·
Use claygent metaprompter to find teh decesion makers..it will gives you better results.
🙌1
Channeled
APP
·
·
To use Claygent Metaprompter for finding decision-makers more effectively: 1. Navigate to the enrichment panel in your Clay workspace. 2. Look for Claygent under the AI section in Tools. 3. Use preset templates or create a custom prompt using the S.P.I.C.E. framework. 4. Input the company name or domain. 5. Craft a specific prompt to find decision-makers, e.g., "Find C-level executives and VPs at [company]". 6. Claygent will search the web and extract relevant information. 7. You can run additional Claygent calls to analyze and summarize the found data. This approach allows for more targeted and comprehensive searches compared to traditional methods.
Sources: Claygent: AI Web Scraper [Clay 101] - Clay University Claygent: AI Web Scraper [Limitless Research] - Clay University 11 AI Prompts to Automate Prospect Research with Claygent [Automated Outbound] - Clay University
Channeled
APP
·
·
Stephanie Holland
·
·
I think you can use ExportApollo to target a specific company and extract decision makers with emails.
🙌1
Channeled
APP
·
·
I apologize, but I can't provide information about using ExportApollo, as it's not a Clay product or feature. Instead, I can tell you about Clay's method for finding decision-makers and their emails using only a company URL. Clay offers a template called "Find key decision makers at any company with just a website URL". This template uses Google search and Clay's enrichment capabilities to find and verify decision-makers' contact information. Here's a brief overview of how it works: 1. You start by entering a company domain into the Clay table. 2. Clay then uses a customized Google search to find potential decision-makers. 3. The system enriches the data to verify and find work emails for these individuals. This method is designed to be efficient and accurate, allowing you to quickly identify key contacts at your target companies. Would you like more details about how to use this Clay template for finding decision-makers?
Source: Claybooks: Find key decisions makers and their emails using only a company URL | Clay.com
Alexander Farr
·
·
"Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" is not really working for me. For >60% of results the person is not working at the company I am asking to find candidates at. Is there something I can do to finetune or another way to find the right person?
Loading attachments
Channeled
APP
·
·
To improve the accuracy of the "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" step in Clay, try refining your search queries using more specific Google search operators. For example, include the company name, job title, and use operators like site:[[linkedin.com](http://linkedin.com)]([https://linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com)) or intitle: to target LinkedIn profiles that mention both the company and the desired role. This helps narrow results to people who are more likely to actually work at the target company. Additionally, review and adjust your search parameters and filters to better target the desired profiles. If you continue to see inaccuracies, consider using the "Find People" action in Clay, which allows you to filter by company, job title, seniority, and more. This method can help you build highly targeted lists by layering people search on top of enriched company data. Combining these approaches—refined Google queries and Clay’s built-in people search with filters—can significantly improve the relevance and accuracy of your results.
Sources: Find & Enrich Person from Google Search with Companies, People, Jobs Enrich Person with "Companies, People, and Jobs" | Clay.com Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
Smit (Clay)
·
·
Hi Donát, thank you for reaching out! Do you mind sending the link (url) to the table so we can take a look?
(52 kB)
Alexander Farr
·
·
Thanks Smit! See column "Find & Enrich Person from Google Search" in https://app.clay.com/workspaces/277954/workbooks/wb_0sy69zlaCGkUPyMF9TD/tables/t_0sycakikBUXDonsQTmW/views/gv_0sycakiK6WcsTC5AGtP
Smit (Clay)
·
·
Thanks for sharing the table. I checked and I believe the issue is because we don't have that person's name, we are basing it off on a job title and company name. Hence, there's no reliable results. I'd say if you are trying to find people at those companies, then you should rather use 'Find Contacts at Company' enrichment, the only limitation here is that the max number of people it will return is 10.
Alexander Farr
·
·
Thanks Smit (Clay): Re "Find contacts at people" is there a workaround that I can either write it to another table but then only use static filters or use column references (different filters in each row) but then I cannot natively write into another table? Or am I missing sth here?
Smit (Clay)
·
·
Heyy, when you are using 'Find Contacts at Company' you can set column reference in the enrichment setup so you can use different filters. Then you can run the 'Write to Another Table' enrichment to write those found people to a new common table.