The difference between a good first call and a great one is preparation. Every agency owner knows this. The problem is that proper prospect research used to take 2-3 hours per company, which meant it only happened for the biggest opportunities. Everyone else got a quick LinkedIn scan and a hope for the best.
AI changes the economics of research. What took half a day now takes 15 minutes. That means you can walk into every call, not just the big ones, with the kind of preparation that makes prospects say “you clearly understand our business.”
That sentence wins more work than any case study or credential ever will.
What to research (and why)
There is a difference between knowing about a company and understanding it. Most agencies do the former. The ones winning pitches do the latter.
Here is what your prospect brief should cover, in order of importance.
1. The business and its model.
What does the company actually do? How do they make money? Who are their customers? You would be surprised how many agency people walk into meetings without being able to articulate the prospect’s business model. Go beyond the “About” page. Understand their go-to-market approach, whether they are growing or contracting, and where they sit in their market.
2. Recent news and developments.
What has happened in the last 6-12 months? Funding rounds, leadership changes, product launches, partnerships, acquisitions. This context makes your conversation timely rather than generic. If they announced a new product line three months ago, ask how the launch is going. If they just closed a funding round, understand what they plan to invest in.
3. The competitive landscape.
Who are their main competitors? How do those competitors position themselves? Where is the prospect winning and where are they losing? This is where your competitive analysis skills directly translate into sales advantage.
Knowing their competitive context lets you frame your agency’s value in terms that matter. “We helped [similar company] increase their share of voice against [their specific competitor] by 40% in six months” is far more compelling than “we do SEO.”
4. Their current marketing and digital presence.
Assess their website, social channels, content output, and SEO performance. Identify what they are doing well and where the gaps are. Be specific. “Your blog has not been updated since August” is an observation. “Your competitors are publishing weekly and capturing search demand you are leaving on the table” is an insight.
5. Key people.
Who will be in the room? What is their background? What have they posted or spoken about recently? LinkedIn is the obvious source, but also check conference appearances and articles they have written. If the marketing director previously worked at an agency, they will have different expectations than someone who has been client-side their entire career.
6. Likely pain points.
Based on all the above, what are the three or four challenges this company is most likely facing? These should be specific, not generic. “Struggling with digital marketing” is useless. “Losing organic market share to [competitor] in key product categories while spending heavily on paid search with declining ROAS” is actionable.
Building your prospect brief template
Consistency matters. Use the same template for every prospect so your team always prepares to the same standard.
Here is a template that works.
PROSPECT BRIEF: [Company Name]
Date: [Date]
Meeting: [Date/time of upcoming call]
Attendees: [Who will be there]
COMPANY OVERVIEW
- Business model:
- Revenue/size indicators:
- Market position:
- Key products/services:
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS (last 12 months)
- [Development 1]
- [Development 2]
- [Development 3]
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
- Main competitors:
- Competitive strengths:
- Competitive weaknesses:
DIGITAL PRESENCE ASSESSMENT
- Website:
- SEO performance:
- Content:
- Social:
- Paid media (if visible):
KEY PEOPLE IN THE MEETING
- [Name, role, background, recent activity]
LIKELY PAIN POINTS
1.
2.
3.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
- [Specific question or observation that demonstrates understanding]
- [Specific question or observation that demonstrates understanding]
RELEVANT CASE STUDIES
- [Selected based on industry/challenge fit]The tools and workflow
Here is how to populate that brief in 15 minutes.
Perplexity is the fastest starting point. Ask it to summarise the company’s business model, recent news, main competitors, and market position. Perplexity searches the web in real time and returns sourced summaries. This covers sections 1-3 of your brief in about 3 minutes.
Claude handles the analysis layer. Paste the Perplexity output along with the prospect’s website copy and ask it to identify likely pain points, assess their digital presence, and suggest conversation starters.
Clay automates the enrichment. If you are processing multiple prospects, Clay pulls company data (size, revenue, funding, tech stack, growth rate) automatically from dozens of data sources. It can also identify recent job postings (a company hiring three content managers is probably about to invest in content).
Apollo enriches contact-level data. It surfaces the prospect’s email, LinkedIn profile, job history, and recent activity. Paired with LinkedIn Sales Navigator (still the best source for individual intelligence), it gives you a complete picture of the people you will be meeting.
The 15-minute workflow:
- Minutes 1-3: Perplexity search for company overview, news, and competitive landscape.
- Minutes 3-5: Quick review of the prospect’s website (homepage, about page, blog, pricing if available).
- Minutes 5-8: Paste everything into Claude. Ask for pain point analysis, digital presence assessment, and conversation starters.
- Minutes 8-12: LinkedIn profiles of the people you are meeting. Note recent activity, background, and connections.
- Minutes 12-15: Select relevant case studies from your library and review the completed brief.
If you are using Clay and Apollo, steps 1-4 can be partially automated, reducing the process to 8-10 minutes per prospect.
How to use the brief in the meeting
The research is only valuable if you use it well. Here is how.
Open with context, not credentials. Do not start by talking about your agency. Start by demonstrating you understand their business. “I have been looking at your market and I am curious about [specific observation]. How are you thinking about that?” This immediately differentiates you from agencies that open with a capabilities slide.
Ask informed questions. Instead of “what are your biggest challenges?” (which every agency asks), try “I noticed [specific competitor] has been investing heavily in [channel]. How is that affecting your market share?” The prospect knows you have done your homework. The conversation goes deeper, faster.
Reference specific situations, not generic ones. Instead of “we work with companies like yours,” say “we recently worked with [company in their sector] who was facing a similar challenge with [specific pain point from your research]. Here is what we learned.” This is where your pitch deck tailoring and prospect research reinforce each other.
Listen for the gaps. Your research gives you hypotheses about their challenges. The meeting confirms or corrects them. When the prospect says something that aligns with your research, you can go deeper. When they surprise you, you have the context to ask intelligent follow-up questions.
Take notes that feed forward. Everything you learn in the meeting becomes input for your proposal, your follow-up sequence, and (if you win) your scoping process. The brief is not a one-time document. It is the foundation of the entire client relationship.
Making research a habit
The agencies that consistently win new business are the ones where prospect research is non-negotiable, not something that happens when someone remembers.
With AI handling the heavy lifting, the cost of preparation drops to near zero. The only reason not to walk into every meeting fully prepared is laziness. And in a competitive market, laziness loses pitches.
Start with your next call. Run the 15-minute process. See how the conversation changes. Once you experience the difference, you will never walk into a meeting unprepared again.
This is part of The Pitch Stack, a series on agency sales and new business strategy. Subscribe to the newsletter to get new articles weekly.
