Automate Decision Maker Discovery with Apollo & Google Sheets in n8n

What This Automation Does

This workflow finds and checks company decision-makers fast.
It uses Apollo API to get confirmed company details and key people emails.
Then it puts all data into Google Sheets and sends a weekly Slack summary.
You save many hours and get clean leads to contact.

The input is a list of companies in Google Sheets.
The process checks if domains exist, gets data, finds leaders, verifies contacts, and summarizes business with GPT.
The output is updated company info, verified contacts, and reports on Slack.

Tools and Services Used

• Google Sheets: Stores companies and contacts data.
• Apollo.io API: Provides company and people enrichment data.
• Slack API: Sends messages for verification and reports.
• Langchain OpenAI GPT: Summarizes business and classifies job titles.
• n8n Automation Platform: Runs nodes for triggers, HTTP requests, filtering, and data processing.

Inputs, Processing Steps, Outputs

Inputs

• New or updated companies added in Google Sheets “Companies” tab.
• Company name and optional domain fields.

Processing Steps

• Check if company is not processed already.
• Verify if company domain exists; if not, search domain via Apollo Organization Search.
• Update company data with accurate domain and website.
• Send Slack message to request human verification for company websites.
• Enrich company details (industry, revenue, size, funding) from Apollo Organization Enrichment.
• Use GPT to create short summaries of company business.
• Batch search and retrieve decision-makers at companies using Apollo People Search.
• Classify contacts’ departments from job titles using GPT.
• Upsert contacts into Google Sheets Contacts tab.
• Batch enrich contacts to add verified emails and phones.
• Update contact info back into Google Sheets.
• Weekly, trigger report of new verified leads and companies on Slack.

Outputs

• Enriched company profiles with verified domains.
• Updated Contacts tab with decision-makers and verified contact info.
• Weekly Slack report summarizing lead discovery.

Beginner Step-by-Step: How to Use This Workflow in Production

Import Workflow

1. Inside the n8n editor, click the Download button on this page to get the workflow JSON file.
2. Go to n8n, select “Import from File,” and upload this workflow JSON.

Configure Credentials and Settings

1. Set up Apollo API key credentials in the n8n credential manager and assign to all HTTP Request nodes.
2. Authorize Google Sheets access for the nodes and update spreadsheet IDs if your sheet has a different ID.
3. Configure Slack OAuth credentials and update Slack channel IDs for messaging.
4. Check the Langchain OpenAI node and input the provided GPT prompts exactly as in the workflow.
5. Update any email addresses, folder IDs, or other IDs if your setup differs.

Test and Activate

1. Add or update a company row in the Google Sheets Companies tab to trigger the workflow.
2. Watch the workflow run to ensure data is enriched correctly.
3. Once tests succeed, toggle the workflow to “Active” to run continuously.

Optional: Host Workflow Securely

For 24/7 running consider self-host n8n.
This gives more control and safety for your data.

Customization Ideas

• You can edit the Code node filtering job titles to add or remove roles like manager or consultant for broader data.
• Change batch sizes in SplitInBatches nodes to adjust to your API limits.
• Modify the GPT prompts to fit your industry tone or to create more detailed summaries.
• Update Slack messages with interactive buttons to approve or reject company websites faster.
• Replace Google Sheets with other CRMs using compatible n8n nodes like HubSpot or Salesforce.

Common Issues and Fixes

401 Unauthorized Error on Apollo API Calls

This happens if the API Key is missing or wrong.
Check every HTTP Request node has the correct Apollo API Key in headers.

Google Sheets Trigger Not Starting the Workflow

Make sure Google Sheets OAuth permission is granted.
Confirm the spreadsheet ID and sheet name match exactly.

Data Not Saved into Contacts Sheet

Ensure matching columns like “LinkedIn Profile URL” are named exactly in the Google Sheets node.
Check column mapping matches spreadsheet headers.

Summary

✓ Saves hours of manual research on companies and contacts.

✓ Provides accurate, verified company domains and decision-maker contacts.

✓ Automates data enrichment and classification with Apollo and GPT.

✓ Outputs organized data ready for CRM with weekly Slack reports.

→ Makes lead discovery easy and reduces errors.

→ Gives clear results with little hands-on effort.