Before reaching out, establish that the company fits your ideal customer profile and find a current reason to contact it. Then identify the person closest to the work you want to discuss. A short research brief should give the salesperson enough context to write a relevant message.
Start with the company and the person
Check the company’s product, customers, industry, location, size, and business model against the market you serve. Write one sentence explaining the fit. If there is no plausible fit, you can stop before researching contacts.
Next, find out who runs or influences the workflow your offer could improve. Check the person’s current role and responsibilities. The most senior title is not always the best contact, and a company announcement tells you nothing by itself about what an individual thinks.
Find a reason to make contact now
Review the company’s website, hiring page, announcements, and relevant public activity. Hiring, expansion, a product launch, or a change in technology may point to work underway.
Use those events to guide a question, not to infer a purchase decision. A company hiring salespeople, for instance, may be building new target-account lists. The job posting cannot tell you whether it wants a prospecting tool.
Engagement data can provide more context. LinkedIn says its account buyer-interest signals may reflect company-page visits or ad interactions, but cautions that the score is only one indicator of potential interest.
Write down what you know and what you suspect
Bring the fit, the signal, and the person together in a tentative hypothesis. If a company is entering a new market, its sales leader may be deciding how to identify suitable accounts there. You could test that idea with a question: “How are you choosing the first accounts for the new market?”
Keep the research brief short enough to use while writing the message:
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Account fit | Why the company matches your target customer |
| Signal | What changed, when, and a link to the source |
| Relevant buyer | Who owns or influences the work |
| Hypothesis | The possible challenge, marked as an assumption |
| Opening angle | One useful observation or question |
The source and date make a signal easy to check again before sending.
How a sales team might use the research
Floworks publishes an account from Rob Playford, SDR Leader at Marqeta. He says Jesse supplies Marqeta’s account-based marketing team with research on its Tier 1 accounts and insights it can use across email, LinkedIn, and ads. He says the team can spend more time running campaigns and less time building lists.
That account describes how the team uses the research, but Floworks has not published its exact brief, account-selection criteria, or campaign results for the example.
Floworks says its prospect research agent, Jesse, searches web sources, filters prospects against an ideal customer profile, identifies signals such as hiring or technology changes, and provides company and contact context for outreach. The salesperson still has to judge whether a signal matters and whether the message makes a fair claim. Floworks: Jesse
Mistakes to catch before sending
A hiring announcement or funding news may justify a question; it does not establish that the company needs your solution. Check that the detail you found gives the recipient a reason to care, and that the person you chose has a connection to the work. Recheck job titles and time-sensitive signals. Spend more research time on accounts whose fit and potential value justify it, and stop early on those that do not.
Check whether the research helps
For researched accounts, track positive replies, qualified meetings booked, meetings held, and the time spent preparing each account. Review which signals and opening questions led to useful conversations. If a buyer corrects an assumption, record the correction and adjust the research criteria.
Frequently asked questions
How long should prospect research take?
A high-priority account may warrant research across several buyers. For a lower-priority account, a fit check and one verified, relevant signal may be enough. Stop when you have a clear reason to reach out or have established that the account is a poor fit.
What sources are useful?
Start with the company’s website, hiring page, product information, and announcements. Check the prospect’s current role and relevant public activity. Save the link and date for any signal you intend to mention.
Is a buying signal enough to send a message?
Check that the company fits, the signal relates to a problem you can help with, and the person you identified is relevant. Ask about the possible need instead of claiming to know the company’s internal plans.
What should the first message include?
Use a relevant, verifiable observation. Briefly explain why you are contacting that person, then ask one question or suggest a next step. Leave out research details the recipient does not need.
