# Prospect Research

**Skill:** `/research-prospect <domain>`
**Type:** Claude Code slash command
**Sources:** WebFetch, WebSearch, Notion MCP (automations catalog)

---

## What It Does

Takes a company domain and generates a structured meeting prep report. It combines real-time web research with pre-loaded company context (services, value propositions, automations catalog) to produce a brief that helps you walk into any sales meeting prepared.

The output covers who the company is, what GTM challenges they likely face, which services are relevant, and specific talking points to drive the conversation.

---

## Two-Phase Approach

### Phase 1: Context Loading

Before any research begins, the skill loads internal context that shapes how the research is interpreted and which recommendations are made.

```
Company Context (from Notion / local files)
├── Services catalog — what you sell, pricing tiers
├── Value propositions — how you position each service
├── Automations catalog — 81 specific automations you can reference
├── Past proposals — patterns from similar deals
└── Customer outcomes — proof points and case studies
```

This context is loaded once per session and cached. It allows the skill to match research findings to specific services rather than giving generic advice.

### Phase 2: Web Research

The skill researches the prospect across multiple angles, running searches and fetching pages in parallel where possible.

| Research Target | What It Looks For |
|-----------------|-------------------|
| **Homepage** | Product description, positioning, target market, pricing |
| **About / Team** | Company size, founding date, leadership team, mission |
| **Careers page** | Open roles (signals growth areas, pain points, tech stack) |
| **LinkedIn company** | Employee count, recent posts, growth trajectory |
| **Crunchbase / funding** | Funding stage, investors, last round, total raised |
| **Job postings** | Specific tools mentioned, team sizes, seniority levels |
| **Tech stack** (BuiltWith / Wappalyzer) | CRM, marketing automation, analytics tools |
| **Pricing model** | Freemium, PLG, sales-led, enterprise, usage-based |
| **Recent news** | Product launches, partnerships, expansions, layoffs |

---

## GTM Signal Detection

The research phase identifies signals that indicate buying readiness, organized by priority.

### High-Priority Signals
- Hiring for sales/marketing/RevOps roles (building or scaling GTM)
- Recently raised funding (Series A-C = growth mandate)
- No dedicated RevOps or marketing ops person (gap you can fill)
- Using basic tools (spreadsheets, no CRM, manual processes)
- Rapid headcount growth (50%+ YoY)

### Medium-Priority Signals
- Job postings mention specific tools you integrate with
- Content marketing activity but no outbound presence
- Multiple open SDR/BDR roles (scaling outbound, may need help)
- Tech stack includes tools with known integration gaps

### Low-Priority Signals
- Active blog/podcast (content-aware, may value content services)
- Industry awards or recognition (growth phase)
- Geographic expansion (new markets = new GTM needs)

---

## Output Format

The skill generates a structured report with these sections:

### 1. TL;DR (3-4 sentences)
Quick summary of who they are, what they do, and why they might need your services. Designed to be read 2 minutes before a meeting.

### 2. Company Overview
| Field | Detail |
|-------|--------|
| Company | Name, domain, HQ location |
| Founded | Year |
| Size | Employee count, growth trajectory |
| Funding | Stage, total raised, last round |
| Industry | Vertical and sub-vertical |
| Product | What they sell, to whom |
| Pricing | Model and approximate price points |

### 3. Business Model
How they make money, who their customers are, average deal size indicators, sales motion (PLG vs. sales-led vs. hybrid).

### 4. GTM Challenges (Identified)
Specific challenges inferred from research, each tied to evidence. Example:

> **Challenge: No dedicated RevOps function**
> Evidence: No RevOps roles on LinkedIn, job postings show sales reps managing their own pipeline in HubSpot. Careers page lists 3 open SDR roles but no ops support.

### 5. Service Recommendations
Matched services from the catalog, ranked by relevance. Each recommendation includes:
- Which service applies
- Why it is relevant (tied to a specific challenge)
- Example automation or deliverable from the catalog

### 6. Talking Points
5-7 conversation starters tied to research findings. Written as questions, not statements.

Example:
> "I noticed you have 3 SDR roles open but no RevOps hire -- how are you handling pipeline management and lead routing today?"

### 7. Objection Handling
Common objections for this type of prospect, with suggested responses. Pulled from the knowledge layer (past proposals, meeting transcripts).

### 8. Key People
Decision-makers and influencers identified during research, with titles and LinkedIn URLs where available.

---

## Example Usage

```
/research-prospect talentflow.io
```

Output (abbreviated):

```
## TL;DR
TalentFlow is an HR tech platform (hiring automation, onboarding) based in Amsterdam.
~120 employees, Series B. They have 60K contacts in HubSpot but only 4 sales reps
and no dedicated RevOps. Heavy tool stack (Clay, Apollo, Zapier, Lemlist)
but likely underutilized. Strong fit for list building, enrichment, and CRM hygiene.

## Company Overview
Company:    TalentFlow (talentflow.io)
Founded:    2020
Size:       ~120 employees, growing
Funding:    Series B
Industry:   HR Tech / B2B SaaS
Product:    Hiring automation, onboarding, performance reviews
Pricing:    SaaS subscription, mid-market pricing

## GTM Challenges
1. Large database, small team — 60K contacts with 4 reps = low coverage
2. Tool sprawl — 5+ outbound tools with no clear orchestration
3. No RevOps — Sales reps likely self-managing pipeline
...

## Service Recommendations
1. HubSpot CRM Hygiene (High fit)
   → 60K contacts likely includes duplicates, outdated records, missing fields
   → Automation: Deduplication workflow + enrichment pipeline

2. Outbound Infrastructure Optimization (High fit)
   → 5 tools doing overlapping work, likely deliverability issues
   → Automation: Consolidate to SmartLead + Clay with proper domain rotation
...
```

---

## Key Files

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `SKILL.md` | This documentation |
| The skill runs as a Claude Code slash command | No standalone script -- it uses WebFetch, WebSearch, and Notion MCP within a Claude Code session |