Account research

Good account research gives you a reason to contact a business, a view of what may matter to the person, and a question that lets them correct your assumptions. Before outreach, gather enough context to make the message specific, then stop before searching becomes delay. Your notes should help you form a hypothesis to test in conversation.

Account-based research works at the account level and can be used across everyone at the account.¹ Do the account work once so the prospect does not have to do it.²

Decide what the notes must produce

Start by deciding what a useful note must let you do. The aim is a working view that changes how you contact the account and what you ask when someone responds.

Use account research to judge whether the company fits, what buying context surrounds it, and how ready it may be before outreach.³ Study the customer's business when deciding which accounts to pursue.⁴ Figure out what matters most to the prospect.⁵

Write down answers to questions such as:

• What does this company do, and who does it sell to?
• What could be changing in the business that makes your conversation timely?
• What might matter to this person in their current work?
• What do you need to learn before you can state a useful reason for reaching out?

If a finding cannot shape your reason for contacting the account or the question you plan to ask, leave it out of the working note.

Start with the account

Begin with the business so the contact does not have to explain context you could have found yourself. Keep the account note short enough to use while you write and call.

Research the target account before writing outreach.⁶ Review the prospect's LinkedIn page and company website to learn about the business and its buying process.⁷ Bring information about prior interactions into your call preparation.⁸

Look for a signal that changes how you would approach the account. Stop at the first applicable signal and use it as the basis for the current outreach.⁹

Ask yourself:

• What does the business appear to care about from the outside?
• Which part of its work connects to the problem you can discuss?
• What has already happened between your company and this account?
• What would make your message sound like it belongs to this business?

Stop this pass when you can explain why the account deserves contact and what you still need to test. Save the account-level findings where you can reuse them for other people at the same company.

Add the person

Account context gives you the business reason. The person's context helps you choose the language, entry point, and question that fit the conversation.

Research the account and the individual prospect together.¹⁰ Review the prospect's about page.¹¹ You can also inspect the content the prospect has liked or interacted with.¹² Find information that can open a small-talk conversation when it helps you start naturally.¹³

Separate personal detail from business relevance. A profile detail can help with the opening, while the account note should carry the reason for the outreach. If the detail has no useful connection to the conversation, leave it out.

Before you write, answer these questions:

• What does this person appear to work on?
• What account context would this person already recognize?
• Which detail gives you a natural opening without making the message feel assembled from profile scraps?
• What might this person correct about your view of the account?

Research gives you a starting point, so leave room for the person to correct your view of their priorities.

Turn the notes into a hypothesis

The output of research is a point of view you can test, not a long account brief. Keep the hypothesis close to an observable account fact and make the prospect's response useful either way.

Research into an account's customers and personas can help you develop a hypothesis for why you are reaching out.¹⁴ Pre-call research can inform both the cold email and the opening of a live discovery call.¹⁵

In your notes, start with what you noticed about the account and the possible business effect, then frame the first question around whether that effect is present. An internal note might say that the account appears to be dealing with a change in its operation. That change may affect a business priority, so the first question should test whether it does.

Prepare follow-up questions around the prospect's context, goals, challenges, and opportunities before the discovery call.¹⁶ Situation questions can show that you researched the account.¹⁷ Ask the question, then let the answer change your next move. If the person corrects your premise, use their version as the new context.

Set the research depth

Research depth should follow the account's importance and the decision you need to make. Set a stopping point for the current touch, while keeping a place to add new context when the account deserves continued attention.

Research on tier-one accounts is continuous.¹⁸ For current outreach, stop when you have a clear account reason, a relevant person clue, and a question that can test your hypothesis. If you are still collecting facts without changing the message or question, move on.

When outreach turns into a call, extend the preparation to the prospect and company background and decide what next steps you may suggest.¹⁹ Bring the same account note into that preparation so the call starts with context and leaves room for discovery.

What not to do

Research mistakes usually come from treating a guess as a conclusion or using a generic profile in place of account understanding. Keep these out of the workflow.

• Pre-call research leads you to take a guess, so do not treat it as certainty.²⁰
• Do not lead with generic persona-based challenges when account-specific research can shape the approach.²¹
• Review the available information before turning LinkedIn interactions into a connect and pitch.²²
• Do research before sending a LinkedIn note, just as you would before making a cold call.²³