Prospecting
Part of Prospect research for sales conversations
Preparing a concise prospect research note
Prepare a brief pre-contact research note with a sourced observation, seller inference, open question and routing checks.
A pre-contact research note should show another representative why an account is being considered and what to check next. It must separate a sourced observation from a possible need the prospect has not confirmed.
Put the next decision first
Start with the proposed action: investigate further, ask a question through an appropriate contact route, refer the account to its owner or hold it. Then state the observation behind that action. A long company profile obscures the reason for interest.
A useful note has five fields:
- Account and offer:Which organisation and current offer does this concern?
- Sourced observation:What was found, where and when? Preserve wording such as “plans” or “advertises”.
- Possible relevance:Which process might be affected? Label this as a seller inference.
- Question and gap:What could the prospect confirm or disprove, and what material fact must be checked first?
- Routing and contact state:Who owns the account or active conversation, and have the separate permission and stop-request checks been completed?
A real note should name the underlying page or conversation and its date, even when it points to an internal source record. “Expanding fast” is too vague to audit.
Keep the example as brief as the decision
This fictional note illustrates the structure; it is not a researched account:
Decision: Hold for account-owner review before new contact. Observation in this fictional scenario: The company’s careers page advertises a data analyst role. Possible relevance — seller inference: The reporting team may be reviewing how it prepares data. Question if contact is appropriate: Is the reporting process changing, or is the role for existing work? Unknown: Whether the current offer supports the account’s systems. Ownership and contact-permission checks are pending.
The advert would not prove that reporting is slow, that the account has approved a project or that the advertised role has been filled. In a real record, add the actual page and date before relying on the observation.
Remove what cannot change the next step
Keep background only if it affects fit, the question or routing. Replace copied paragraphs with a precise observation. Leave out personal trivia and guesses about a contact’s motivation.
Where the Australian Privacy Principles apply, OAIC guidance limits collection of personal information and requires reasonable steps concerning its quality. A publicly visible detail is not automatically suitable for a sales note.
Use the organisation’s approved account system and access rules. Date the note and mark outdated information superseded so later readers do not treat it as current.
Check applicable spam rules before sending an Australian commercial electronic message. Completing research does not authorise a message.
After a conversation, make a separate record of what the prospect actually said. Preserve the difference between the earlier hypothesis and the later answer.
Compliance considerations for prospect research in Australia
- Privacy Principle
- APP 3 – Collection of solicited personal information
- Data Quality
- APP 10 – Quality of personal information
- Spam Rules
- ACMA guidelines on commercial electronic messages
