prospect-research

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Creates comprehensive prospect profiles and knowledge capsules for sales preparation. Use this skill when researching new prospects, preparing for calls, onboarding to new accounts, or updating prospect intelligence.

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Sourcesalesably/salesably-marketplace

Added on2026-02-26

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npx skill4agent add salesably/salesably-marketplace prospect-research

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Prospect Research

This skill creates comprehensive prospect profiles ("knowledge capsules") that give you everything you need to have relevant, personalized sales conversations.

Objective

Build deep understanding of individual prospects-their background, role, priorities, and connection points-to enable personalized outreach and meaningful conversations.

Research Dimensions

1. Professional Profile

Basic Information:

Full name and preferred name
Current title and company
Location and time zone
LinkedIn profile URL
Email address (if available)

Career Context:

How long in current role
Previous roles and companies
Career trajectory and progression
Industry experience depth

2. Role & Responsibilities

What They Own:

Department or function they lead
Team size and structure
Key metrics they're measured on
Budget authority and scope

Daily Reality:

What does their typical day look like?
What tools and systems do they use?
Who do they report to?
Who reports to them?

3. Professional Interests

LinkedIn Activity:

Topics they post about
Content they engage with
Groups they belong to
Thought leadership themes

Public Content:

Articles or blogs they've written
Podcasts or webinars they've appeared on
Conference presentations
Published perspectives or opinions

4. Connection Points

Mutual Connections:

Shared contacts on LinkedIn
Common former employers
Industry associations
Alumni networks

Shared Context:

Similar career paths
Common interests or hobbies
Geographic connections
Industry events attended

5. Recent News & Activity

Personal News:

Job changes or promotions
Awards or recognition
Public statements or interviews
Social media activity

Company Context:

Recent company announcements
Industry trends affecting their role
Competitive pressures
Growth or challenges

Knowledge Capsule Format

Create a condensed, actionable profile:

## [Name] - [Title] at [Company]

### Quick Facts
- Location: [City, Time Zone]
- Tenure: [X years at company, Y months in role]
- Background: [1-2 sentence career summary]

### Role Focus
[2-3 sentences on what they're responsible for and measured on]

### Recent Activity
- [Relevant recent event or news item]
- [Another relevant item]

### Connection Points
- [Mutual connection or shared context]
- [Common interest or background]

### Conversation Starters
1. [Specific talking point based on their interests]
2. [Reference to recent news or activity]
3. [Question about their priorities]

### Potential Pain Points
Based on role and industry:
- [Likely challenge #1]
- [Likely challenge #2]
- [Likely challenge #3]

Research Sources

Primary Sources

LinkedIn profile and activity
Company website (about page, team page)
Professional bio from conferences or publications
Personal website or blog

Secondary Sources

News articles mentioning the prospect
Company press releases
Industry publications
Podcast appearances or interviews

Social Intelligence

Twitter/X presence
LinkedIn posts and comments
Published articles or thought leadership
Conference presentations (SlideShare, YouTube)

Research Process

Step 1: Basic Profile (5 minutes)

Find LinkedIn profile
Capture basic info (title, company, location)
Note tenure and career history
Identify reporting structure

Step 2: Deep Dive (10 minutes)

Review LinkedIn activity (posts, comments, shares)
Search for news mentions
Find any published content
Check for mutual connections

Step 3: Synthesis (5 minutes)

Identify 2-3 key connection points
Draft conversation starters
Hypothesize likely pain points
Create knowledge capsule

Personalization Guidelines

What Makes Research Actionable

Specific over generic:

Not: "They're a VP of Sales"
But: "They've grown the sales team from 5 to 25 in 18 months"

Recent over historical:

Not: "They worked at Salesforce"
But: "They just posted about hitting 150% of quota last quarter"

Relevant over interesting:

Not: "They went to Stanford"
But: "They mentioned struggling with rep onboarding in a recent post"

Red Flags to Note

Very limited online presence (harder to personalize)
Recent job change (may not be decision-maker yet)
Negative company news (tread carefully)
Previous bad experience with similar vendors

Output Format

When researching a prospect, produce:

Knowledge Capsule: Condensed profile in standard format
Research Confidence: How complete is the picture (High/Medium/Low)
Best Approach: Recommended outreach strategy based on research
Conversation Hooks: 3-5 specific talking points
Questions to Answer: What we still need to learn

Available Tools

When enabled, these MCP tools enhance research capabilities:

Tool	What It Does	How to Use
Exa	Find profiles and content by person	"Search Exa for [name]'s LinkedIn profile and recent posts"
Apify	Scrape LinkedIn profiles	"Use Apify LinkedIn scraper for [profile URL]"
Hunter.io	Find and verify email addresses	"Find email for [name] at [company] using Hunter"
Perplexity	Research person's public presence	"Use Perplexity to find recent mentions of [name]"

Note: Tools must be enabled in

.mcp.json

and API keys configured. See README for setup instructions.

Tool Usage Examples

"Use Hunter to find the email for John Smith at Acme Corp"
"Search Exa for John Smith VP Sales Acme Corp LinkedIn"
"Use Perplexity to find recent interviews or podcasts featuring John Smith"
"Use Apify to scrape this LinkedIn profile: [URL]"

Cross-References

Feed research into
```
cold-call-scripts
```
for personalized openers
Use insights in
```
follow-up-emails
```
for relevant references
Inform
```
multithread-outreach
```
with stakeholder context
Update based on
```
call-analysis
```
findings