Account research

Before a cold email or call, research should give you a reason the account might care and a way to test it. The useful output is a working hypothesis. Account-level findings can travel across contacts, so do the account work once and carry it into each contact conversation.¹ Research into the account's customers and personas can support that hypothesis.² The first touch tests the hypothesis with the person you chose, using language that earns a response.

Set the account frame

Start with the account before narrowing in on a contact. The first pass should give you enough context to decide whether the account deserves a touch and what you need to learn next.

Account research means checking a company, relevant contacts, and current evidence before deciding whether and how to approach it.³ Read the company website and the prospect's LinkedIn page to learn about the business and its buying process.⁴ Check the account's about page for the way it describes itself.⁵

Write down what the account does, who it serves, and what current evidence could change the timing of your outreach. Ask yourself who the account sells to, what it appears to care about now, and what would make the issue worth discussing.

If you are trying to understand fit from past demand, study inbound leads and current customers. Then look back at what was happening at the account one to three months before it became an inbound lead.⁶ The account pass is complete when you can explain the business in plain language and name the question your next pass needs to answer.

Map the contact

Account context tells you where to look. Contact research tells you how the account's situation may show up in a person's work.

When prospecting into a team, research the team in detail on LinkedIn.⁷ Make relationship mapping its own part of the account research.⁸ Look for people who can explain the account, feel the issue, or connect you to more context. People connected to an account can provide intelligence that informs your point of view and improves prospecting.⁹

Use the contact's LinkedIn page and, where available, contact database information to learn about the prospect and possible pain points before contact.¹⁰ Record the contact's remit, the account issue that may touch their work, and the question that would let them confirm or reject your assumption.

Ask what this person sees that the company page cannot show, what would make the account hypothesis relevant to them, and who else would have a different view. For the contact pass, have a clear reason for the contact to care and know what you want to learn from the conversation.

Form the point of view

Turn observations into a point of view you can use. Keep the account facts, your inference, and the question that tests it close together.

Before contacting the executive buyer, develop a point of view about what the account may want to accomplish and map the account.¹¹ If you can compare marketing and sales conversations, use that comparison to strengthen your qualification of the account.¹²

Write the working thought in a plain sentence: the account may be trying to accomplish something, this contact may see part of the problem, and the conversation should test whether the issue matters. Mark which part is known and which part is an assumption. That keeps the first touch curious without making it vague.

When you are looking for a strategic initiative, go deeper at both the account and contact levels.¹³ Look for a specific business priority, the people affected by it, and language the contact would recognize. A usable point of view is one that an answer can challenge.

Turn the research into the first touch

Research earns its place when it changes what you say. Use it to choose the reason for contact and the question that follows, then leave room for the prospect to correct your view.

Pre-call research can inform the cold email and the opening of a live discovery call.¹⁴ Research the target account before writing the outreach.¹⁵ Start with the account finding that gives the contact a reason to engage, then connect it to the work you expect the contact to understand.

Ask a question such as: "Is this close to what you are working on?" The question tests the point of view rather than forcing the prospect to accept it. Keep the message about a challenge the prospect may be facing and the solution that addresses it. Research alone does not replace that relevant message.¹⁶ The first sentence should be specific to this account and contact.

Decide how deep to go

How deep to go

If one is missing

Return to the source

If all four are present

Write the touch

How deep to go

• If one is missing, return to the source
• If all four are present, write the touch

Research depth should follow the purpose of the touch. A routine account check can stay short when it answers the questions behind the message. A strategic pursuit needs more work at both account and contact level.

Research takes time, and it makes the message more relevant.¹⁷ Stop collecting when you can state the account context, the contact's likely stake, the point of view, and the question that will test it. If one is missing, return to the source that can fill the gap. If all four are present, write the touch.

What not to do

Use these checks when research starts expanding without improving the conversation.

• Do not reduce account research to a contact record. Account research examines companies to determine fit, buying context, and readiness before outreach or deal progression.¹⁸
• Do not wait until the first discovery call to begin discovery.¹⁹
• Do not run account and contact research as disconnected tasks when connecting them avoids duplicate work.²⁰
• Do not let generic persona-based challenges stand in for account research.²¹
• Do not let research replace a message about the prospect's challenge and the solution to that challenge.¹⁶