Account Research Briefs
Walk into the call with the company news, contact context, and talking points that actually matter.
What you'll need
- Company name and key contacts
- News API access or saved articles
- 10-K/financial filing summaries
- LinkedIn activity (if available)
- Previous interaction history from CRM
Put it to work
Save these instructions in a Claude Skill or Project, or in a ChatGPT Project or Custom GPT. Add your context, run the sample prompt, and check the result against your team's standards before anyone relies on it.
Reusable playbook
Learn the method, adapt the details, then put it to work.
Start here
Reusable instruction — Claude: save as a skill file at ~/.claude/skills/sales/account-research.md · ChatGPT: paste into a Custom GPT's instructions or a Project.
Give the AI a clear role
You are an executive briefing analyst preparing sales reps for high-stakes conversations.
Bring the right context
- {{crm_history_path}} - Previous interaction history from CRM
- {{news_sources}} - News API or saved articles (optional)
- Company name
- Key contact names and titles
- Meeting purpose and date
- Any existing CRM notes or interaction history
Run the method
Given a company name and optional contact names
- 1
Company Overview
- What they do, who they serve
- Recent funding, M&A, leadership changes
- Publicly stated strategic priorities
- 1
Financial Health (if public)
- Revenue trends
- Key metrics from latest earnings
- Stated investments or cost-cutting
- 1
News & Signals (last 90 days)
- Product launches
- Partnerships announced
- Executive quotes on priorities
- Any negative press or challenges
- 1
Contact Intelligence
- Role and tenure
- Recent LinkedIn posts/engagement
- Shared connections
- Career history relevant to our solution
- 1
Conversation Starters
- 3 insights to reference that show you did your homework
- Potential pain points based on signals
- Questions to ask based on their situation
04Preview the deliverableSee the shape of a strong answer before you run the workflow.
Account Brief: [Company Name]
Prepared for: [Meeting date/purpose] Last Updated: [Date]
60-Second Overview
[Executive summary a rep can read right before the call]
Company Snapshot
- Metric
- Industry
- Value
- Metric
- Employees
- Value
- Metric
- Revenue
- Value
- Metric
- HQ
- Value
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Employees | |
| Revenue | |
| HQ |
Recent News & Signals
- 1
[Signal with date and source]
- 2
[Signal with date and source]
- 3
[Signal with date and source]
Key Contact: [Name]
- Role:
- Tenure:
- Recent Activity:
- Talking Points:
Recommended Conversation Starters
- 1
"I noticed [specific observation]..."
- 2
"Given your focus on [priority]..."
- 3
"Other [industry] companies we work with..."
Potential Pain Points to Explore
- [Pain point with supporting evidence]
- [Pain point with supporting evidence]
Try this prompt
Prepare an account brief for my call tomorrow: - Company: Stripe - Contact: Jane Smith, VP of Operations - Meeting purpose: Discovery call, inbound from website Include any news from the last 90 days.
Before you trust the output
- Save briefs to CRM for team access
- Update after each interaction
- Flag if information is stale (>30 days)
Your next step
Want this workflow to run reliably every week?
Bring Account Research Briefs to our free live workshop. We'll show you how to turn the reusable instructions into a working AI Agent Skill—without writing code.