Account Research

Walk into every meeting knowing more about their context than they expect. Timebox research; separate facts from hypotheses.

When to use

• Before discovery calls, demos, or strategic meetings
• Deep-dive on a single target account

When not to use

• Bulk list building (lead-prospector)
• Presenting hypotheses as facts to the prospect

The account sheet

## Account - <Company> (<date>)
### Company
- What they do (their words) - size, geography, structure
- Business model & who THEIR clients are
- Recent news: funding, projects, expansions, incidents (URL + date)
### People (per attendee)
- Role, tenure, background, recent public statements
- Likely personal win from this project
### Signals
- Tech stack hints (site, job postings)
- Hiring patterns → priorities
- Public tenders / projects when relevant
### Hypotheses (to verify in meeting)
- Top 3 likely pains with evidence
- Budget/timing signals
### Angles
- Openers & smart questions
- Relevant references/cases of ours
- Risks (incumbent? bad history?)

Sources

web_fetch site (about, news, careers) · web_search news + hiring · public profiles · reviews · tender platforms · entity-research · buying-signals.

Workflow

1. Timebox: 15 min routine / 45 min big meeting / half-day strategic.
2. Fill the sheet; tag every claim with source URL or unverified.
3. Store sales/accounts/<company>/research.md; brief top 5 points in chat.
4. After the meeting: update via discovery notes - the sheet lives.

Rules

• Public sources only.
• Hypotheses are for the meeting to test - never sell them as facts.
• Prefer recent evidence (<90 days) for timing claims.

Anti-patterns

• Wall of unstructured browser notes
• Invented org charts