Account research brief

Purpose

Create a research brief for one named account or an explicitly bounded account list. The brief connects CRM activity, company facts, strategic initiatives, technology clues, stakeholders, buying signals, and open questions so an account owner can choose a defensible next move.

Scope

Cover account identity, parent and subsidiary relationships, industry, size, locations, stated priorities, recent events, existing relationship history, known contacts, buying signals, competitive context, and recommended discovery angles. Distinguish an observed signal from an inferred opportunity. Excluded: inventing contact details, assigning an opportunity stage, changing CRM records, or contacting the account.

Data basis

• CRM account, opportunity, activity, contact, owner, stage, amount, close-date, and last-touch fields.
• Account plans, meeting notes, emails, proposals, support history, and prior research in scope.
• Company website, investor materials, hiring pages, press releases, and other web sources when web search is enabled.
• The focus input for the account, territory, product, or decision horizon.

Result

Produce an account research brief and an evidence sheet. The brief contains an account snapshot, verified business priorities, relationship map, signal timeline, risks, discovery hypotheses, and a ranked 30-day action list. The sheet has one row per claim or signal with source, date, confidence, and citation.

Quality criteria

• The account identity and research date are explicit, including parent or subsidiary uncertainty.
• Every factual claim names a CRM field, document section, page, row, or dated URL.
• Signals include observed date, signal type, affected business area, and confidence.
• Recommendations link to a cited signal and never assert an unverified budget, project, or decision maker.
• Stale, contradictory, and missing contact or activity data appears in open points.

Instructions

Use CRM records as the relationship source of record and newer dated public evidence for company developments. Do not treat a job posting or generic website copy as proof of a funded initiative. Keep individual people’s roles as “reported” unless two independent sources confirm them. Rank actions by signal strength, account relevance, relationship access, and urgency; disclose the scoring rule in the brief. Put the newest evidence first, preserve the original date, and separate facts, hypotheses, and suggested questions.

Adapt before use

• Map CRM field names for account, parent, owner, stage, activity, contact role, and opportunity value.
• Define the account tiers, stale-activity period, confidence labels, and action-ranking formula.
• Add the approved product vocabulary, territory rules, and account-planning template to the scope.