Split by a filter that divides the market cleanly
The goal is several searches that each return fewer than 2,500 leads and together cover the whole market. Choose a filter that divides people into separate groups rather than overlapping ones: region (country, then state or city), company headcount bands, seniority levels or function. Change one filter at a time and note the count of each sub-search; if one is still above 2,500, divide it again.
Watch for overlap and remove duplicates
Some filters overlap — a person can match two title keywords, or a company can appear in more than one industry. When the sub-searches are merged, the same person can appear twice. Remove duplicates on the profile URL rather than on the name, since names repeat across different people.
Let Prospectal split and merge it
On the Agency, Scale and Custom packages, Smart Link Splitting does this for you: submit the complete URL of the large search as one project, and Prospectal divides it into smaller searches, runs them, removes duplicates and merges everything into one CSV. Large Sales Navigator account searches are handled the same way above 1,000 companies. On Freelancer, a search above the limit is never split silently: the app asks you to lower the number of rows or upgrade.
What a split export costs
Prospectal charges 1 credit for each lead delivered in the final file, so you pay for the leads you receive, not for the searches it took to collect them. A 9,000-lead market is 9,000 credits whether it arrives from one search or four.
Check the merged file before you use it
- Compare the total with the sum of your sub-search counts: a large gap means a sub-search was missed or still above the limit.
- Sort by company and title and scan for people outside your target; a broad sub-search often needs one more filter.
- Keep the profile URL column: it is the reliable key for de-duplication and for matching against your CRM.
Put it into practice