Build List
Describe your target audience in plain language and get a structured, exportable table of matching contacts or companies from ZoomInfo's database.
Overview
The Build List skill turns a natural language description of your target audience into a structured, exportable table of real contacts or companies from ZoomInfo's database. No query builders, no form fields — just describe what you're looking for and get a clean list back.
This skill handles the entire workflow: parsing your criteria into structured filters, validating every filter value against ZoomInfo's lookup API, executing the search with optimal sort parameters, and enriching sparse results with emails, direct dials, and accuracy scores. The result is a ready-to-use table artifact you can copy, download, or feed directly into your next step.
Whether you need 25 highly targeted contacts for a personalized sequence or 500 accounts for a broad ABM wave, Build List adapts to the scope and outputs a summary of exactly what filters were applied — so you can verify the list matches your intent and iterate if needed.
What It Does
- Natural language parsing: Translates conversational criteria ("Series B SaaS startups in Austin with 50–200 employees using Salesforce") into structured ZoomInfo filter parameters
- Filter validation: Looks up valid values and IDs for every filter before searching — never guesses, so results are accurate
- Contact and company search: Runs searches against ZoomInfo's full database with optimal sort ordering (contact accuracy score, company revenue or headcount)
- Enrichment pass: Fetches emails, direct dials, and additional profile data for top results to fill in any gaps from the initial search
- Refinement guidance: When results are too broad or narrow, suggests specific filter adjustments with estimated impact on list size
Use Cases
Outbound Campaign Lists
Give Claude your ICP criteria — title, seniority, industry, company size, location, tech stack — and get a contact list formatted for export to your sequencing tool or CRM. Ask for 25 hyper-targeted contacts for a personalized campaign or 250 for broader coverage.
Account-Based Marketing
Describe the firmographic profile of your target accounts (industry, revenue band, employee count, geography, business model) and get a company list with contacts pre-mapped. Iterate on filters in conversation until the segment matches your ABM program requirements.
Territory Planning
Build a comprehensive view of the addressable market in a new territory by generating lists filtered by metro region, company size, and vertical. Export the results and load them into your CRM to assign to reps.
Skill Definition
The raw markdown Claude uses when this skill is invoked.
--- name: build-list description: Build a list of contacts or companies matching specific criteria. Describe what you're looking for in natural language and get a structured, tabular list you can export. Supports filtering by title, seniority, department, industry, company size, location, tech stack, growth rate, and more. Outputs a clean table artifact. --- # Build List Build a targeted list of contacts or companies from ZoomInfo and output as a structured table. ## Input The user will describe what they want via `$ARGUMENTS`. Examples: - "CTOs at Series B+ startups in SF with 50-200 employees" - "VP of Sales at healthcare companies using Salesforce with 500+ employees" - "All SaaS companies in EMEA with $10M-$50M revenue" - "Directors of Engineering at companies similar to Datadog" - "Marketing leaders at Fortune 500 companies in financial services" The user may also specify: - How many results they want (default: 25) - Whether they want contacts, companies, or both - Specific fields to include in the output ## Workflow 1. **Determine list type**: Is the user asking for contacts, companies, or both? Default to contacts if they mention titles/roles, companies if they mention firmographics only. 2. **Parse criteria** from natural language into structured filters: - Job titles, management levels, departments, job functions → contact filters - Industry, employee count, revenue, geography, tech stack, company type → company filters - Growth rate, funding, rankings → company filters 3. **Resolve all filter values** using `lookup` before searching. This is critical — do NOT guess values. For every filter you plan to use, call `lookup` with the corresponding field name to get the valid values and use the returned `id` values in your search parameters. 4. **Execute the search**: - For **contacts**: Use `search_contacts` with all resolved filters. Sort by `-contactAccuracyScore`. Request up to 100 results. - For **companies**: Use `search_companies` with all resolved filters. Sort by `-employeeCount` or `-revenue`. Request up to 100 results. - For **both**: Search companies first, then search contacts at the top results. 5. **Enrich top results** if the search returns limited detail: - Use `enrich_contacts` (batch of 10) or `enrich_companies` (batch of 10) on the top results to fill in emails, phones, and other details. 6. **Output as a clean table artifact.** Create a markdown or CSV artifact the user can copy or export. ## Output Format ### Search Criteria Applied Show the user exactly what filters were used so they can verify: | Filter | Value | |--------|-------| | Management Level | Vice President | | Industry | Computer Software | | Employee Count | 51-100, 101-250 | | Metro Region | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | | ... | ... | ### Contact List (if contact search) | # | Name | Title | Company | Email | Direct Phone | Accuracy | Location | |---|------|-------|---------|-------|-------------|----------|----------| | 1 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | ### Company List (if company search) | # | Company | Industry | Employees | Revenue | HQ Location | Website | ZoomInfo ID | |---|---------|----------|-----------|---------|-------------|---------|-------------| | 1 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | ### List Summary - **Total results found**: X (showing top Y) - **Filters applied**: [summary] - **Average accuracy score**: X (contacts only) - **Data quality**: Flag any concerns (low accuracy, stale records) ### Refinement Options If the list is too broad or too narrow, suggest specific filter adjustments: - "Add `revenue` filter to narrow from 847 to ~200 results" - "Remove metro region filter to expand from 12 to ~150 results" - "Try adjacent industries: Information Technology Services, Internet" If the user wants to iterate, they can re-run with adjusted criteria. Suggest the exact modified command.
Created by
Rowan Bailey
Senior Director, Product
Provided by
ZoomInfo ↗Capabilities
- Natural language criteria parsing
- Contact and company search
- Filter validation via ZoomInfo lookup API
- Structured table output (markdown or CSV)
- Refinement suggestions when results are too broad or narrow