Research a prospect before outreach Prompt
Prompt
Research this prospect for outreach. Prospect: [Name, Title, Company] What I sell: [briefly] Target pain: [problem I help solve] Please find: 1. Recent company news — last 6 months 2. Recent activity from this person (LinkedIn posts, interviews) 3. Signals the company has our target pain 4. Mutual connections or shared context 5. The single best hook for an opening line Keep each section to 2-3 bullets. I need to read this in 60 seconds.
Why it works
Separating company research from individual prospect research reflects how outreach personalisation actually works — the company hook shows you understand their business, the personal hook shows you understand them. Asking for 'signals the company has your target pain' converts background research into commercial intelligence. The 'single best opening line' instruction forces synthesis into something directly usable rather than producing a research dump.
Watch out for
Prospect personalisation based purely on public information can feel superficial — referencing a LinkedIn post from 8 months ago as if it's current is worse than no personalisation. Prioritise recent signals (last 30 days) over older activity. Also be careful with personal information like family connections or personal interests, which can feel intrusive in a cold outreach context.
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