# Lead enrichment with your own Apollo key

Sashimi does lead enrichment through Apollo, on your workspace's own Apollo key. Your AI searches for prospects without spending credits, asks for a credit estimate, then imports people as leads or fills the empty fields of leads and companies you already have. Imports and enrichment spend Apollo credits; Sashimi sells no data credits.

By Alfonso Trocolí, founder · Updated October 27, 2026

Canonical: https://sashimicrm.com/features/lead-enrichment

**What you can ask, and which Sashimi tool does it (as of October 27, 2026)**

| What you ask | Tool | Who can |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Find marketing directors at agencies in Madrid | search_prospects | Any member |
| How many credits could importing these 25 people cost? | integrations_status | Any member |
| Import the ones who are not leads yet | import_prospects | Any member |
| Fill in what is missing on this lead, mobile included | enrich_lead | Any member |
| Complete the domain, sector and LinkedIn of this company | enrich_company | Any member |
| How many credits have we used in the last 30 days? | integrations_status | Any member |

## What is lead enrichment in Sashimi?

It is contact enrichment: filling in the email, phone, job title, LinkedIn and company your CRM is missing. Your AI does it from Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP client, through Apollo, a third-party data provider. Apollo is the only data provider in Sashimi today.

Sashimi's data enrichment tools cover three jobs. `search_prospects` finds new people, `import_prospects` turns them into leads, and `enrich_lead` and `enrich_company` complete records you already have.

## How do I connect Apollo?

An admin pastes the workspace's own Apollo key in Sashimi's web app, under Settings › Integrations. No MCP tool takes a key, so the key never passes through a chat.

Prospect search needs a paid Apollo plan: on Apollo's free plan it returns a plan error, while enrichment still works. The credits are on your own Apollo account. There are no AI credits or data credits to buy from Sashimi. Your AI does the reasoning on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan.

## Which steps spend credits?

Searching does not. Importing and enriching do, because they unlock contact data.

- **Search.** `search_prospects` finds people who are not in the CRM yet, by job title, seniority, location, company size, domain or keywords. It spends no credits, writes nothing and flags anyone who is already a lead.
- **Import.** `import_prospects` takes at most 50 people per call. It creates leads, unlocks their emails, dedupes by email and links or creates the company. It spends Apollo credits. With `enrich` set to false it imports without unlocking, and spends nothing.
- **Enrich.** `enrich_lead` and `enrich_company` fill only empty fields and never overwrite them, with one exception: a mobile number Apollo returns replaces the one already saved. A lead needs an email, a LinkedIn URL or a company domain to be found.
- **Mobile numbers.** Optional, and they cost extra. They arrive minutes later and show on the lead's record. A mobile you ask for again replaces the old one.

## How do I know what it will cost?

Ask before a big batch. `integrations_status` gives an estimate of the credits before you import, and the usage of the last 30 days afterwards. It spends no credits itself.

The figures are bounds, not invoices. Apollo charges in ranges, so your AI repeats them as an estimate, not as an exact spend. Your Apollo account shows the real usage.

## Are there limits?

Yes. Each connection can make 120 calls per minute. Within that, at most 20 calls per minute may go to tools that reach Apollo, such as search, import and enrichment.

Send up to 50 people in one `import_prospects` call, and it counts as one call against the limit. When a connection goes over, the call is refused with the number of seconds to wait.

## What happens to the data?

Imported people become ordinary leads in the workspace you approved. One connection sees one workspace, and your role is checked live on every call.

Any member can search, import and enrich. Deleting leads is for admins, and deleted leads go to a 30-day trash, where `restore_from_trash` brings them back. To set up sequences for the new leads, see [email sequences](https://sashimicrm.com/features/email-sequences).

## What can I ask my AI to do?

Your AI picks the tools and tells you what a batch may cost before it spends.

- “Find marketing directors at agencies in Madrid, and tell me who is already a lead.”
- “Before importing, how many Apollo credits could these 25 people cost?”
- “Import them as leads, but don't unlock emails yet.”
- “Fill in the missing job title and LinkedIn for Ana Ruiz, and ask for her mobile too.”
- “How many Apollo credits have we used this month?”

## How do I start enriching leads?

Sashimi is in private beta, invitation only and free during the beta. At launch, Solo is $15/month per account (3 workspaces, 1 seat). Nothing can be bought today.

You need a Claude plan with custom connectors, or ChatGPT developer mode on the web. On Claude Team and Enterprise an owner adds the connector; members can't add it themselves. The [setup guide](https://sashimicrm.com/connect) has the steps. Then an admin pastes the Apollo key once, and your AI can search.

Search needs a paid Apollo plan; on the free plan only enrichment works.

[How it works](https://sashimicrm.com/how-it-works) explains roles, the [MCP server page](https://sashimicrm.com/mcp) lists all 140 tools, and the [home page](https://sashimicrm.com/) has the rest.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is lead enrichment?

Filling in the contact data a lead is missing, such as email, phone, job title, LinkedIn or company, from a data provider. In Sashimi your AI does it through Apollo, on your workspace's own Apollo key.

### Does searching for prospects spend credits?

No. search_prospects spends no credits and writes nothing. Importing people with import_prospects and enriching records with enrich_lead or enrich_company spend Apollo credits on your own Apollo account.

### Do I need my own Apollo account?

Yes. Apollo is the only data provider today, and it runs on your workspace's own key. An admin pastes the key in Sashimi's web app, under Settings › Integrations. Prospect search needs a paid Apollo plan; enrichment also works on Apollo's free plan.

### Will enrichment overwrite data I already have?

No. enrich_lead and enrich_company fill only empty fields. The one exception is a mobile number you ask for again, which replaces the old one. Imports skip people whose email is already a lead.

[Request beta access](https://sashimicrm.com/beta?from=features-lead-enrichment)