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Research an account in 10 minutes

Decide if an account is worth your time, who to contact and what to say, before you write a single email.

SDRAE⏱ 10 minDifficulty: EasyUpdated 2026-11-09
What you'll have at the end

A fit score, two named contacts, a "why now" reason with a source, and a 3-line account note in your CRM.

Tools you need

Research the company and summarise it with sources.
Find the right people and their contact details.
Once you do this daily, run the same research across a whole list at once.

Step-by-step workflow

1

Write down what "a good fit" means (one time)

ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity (web search on)

Do this once, save it and reuse it for every account. It stops you researching things that don't change your decision.

Prompt · Step 1
I sell [PRODUCT] to [TARGET CUSTOMER]. Our best customers have these things in common: [WHAT YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS SHARE].
Give me a fit checklist of 5 yes/no questions I can answer about any account in a few minutes, using only public information.
For each question, say why it matters and where to look (website, LinkedIn, job posts, news).
2

Get the company snapshot with sources

ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity (web search on)

Turn web search on. Ask for a source after every fact so you can check anything you plan to mention.

Prompt · Step 2
Research [COMPANY] ([WEBSITE]).
Answer my fit checklist: [PASTE YOUR 5 QUESTIONS]
Then give me, in short bullets:
- what they sell and to whom
- size and growth signals (hiring, new offices, funding), if public
- tools they appear to use, if mentioned on their site or in job posts
Add the source link after each fact. Write "unknown" instead of guessing.
Free Companion Spreadsheet (.xlsx)

Account research tracker

A spreadsheet to research and score 25 accounts, with a fit checklist, a fit score that adds up automatically and every prompt from this workflow.

3

Find a reason to reach out now

ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity (web search on)

A good "why now" is something that happened recently and connects to the problem you solve.

Prompt · Step 3
Look for events at [COMPANY] in the last 90 days that could make [PROBLEM MY PRODUCT SOLVES] more urgent: new leaders, funding, launches, expansion, hiring, partnerships or public statements.
List up to 3, each with the date, a one-line summary, the source link, and how it connects to [PROBLEM].
If you find nothing relevant, say so.
4

Pick two people to contact

Apollo

In Apollo, find one decision-maker (who owns the budget for your problem) and one likely user or champion (who feels the problem every day). Save both to your list.

5

Write the 3-line account note

ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity (web search on)

Save this to the account in your CRM so you, or a teammate, can act on it later without redoing the research.

Prompt · Step 5
Summarise this research into an account note with exactly 3 lines:
1. Fit: [High / Medium / Low] — one-line reason
2. Why now: the strongest recent event, with date
3. Angle: the one problem to lead with, and who to send it to
Research: [PASTE STEPS 2–4]

Turn this into a system

Once this workflow is working manually, connect it into an automated GTM playbook or stack.

Playbook · Agentic Operations
Autonomous B2B Account Research & Pre-Call Intelligence Briefs

Gather public company information, recent announcements, and tech stack details to deliver a concise pre-call summary to sales reps.

Open playbook →
Reference Stack · $424 – $474 / mo (Base Software)
The $500/mo Modern Outbound Stack

Modular outbound pipeline generation architecture with AI waterfall enrichment and multi-inbox rotation under $500/mo base software cost.

Explore stack →

Want this running for you?

GPTify builds it on your tools, with a fixed scope and price.

Lead-Finder Agent →

Frequently asked questions

Which AI assistant is best for account research?

Any assistant with web search and links to its sources. Perplexity, ChatGPT and Claude all work. What matters is that you can check the sources.

How many accounts can I research a day like this?

At 10 minutes each, 15–20 a day is realistic. For hundreds, use Clay to run the same steps across a list.

What if there's no recent "why now" event?

Then lead with a relevant observation about their business instead, or move the account to a later list. Not every account is ready today.

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