Prospect Research Checklist: What to Know Before Outreach

A prospect research checklist keeps you from sending generic outreach. It gives you a fixed list of things to look up, so every first message rests on facts about the company, the person and the moment. Five focused minutes per prospect is usually enough. This guide gives you the checklist, shows where to find each item and explains how to turn your notes into a first line.

TL;DR#

• Research four things: the company, the person, a trigger and a way to reach them.
• Limit it to about five minutes. Depth beats volume only for your best accounts.
• Write down one specific fact you will use in the message.
• Verify the contact details before you send.

Why use a prospect research checklist?#

Without a checklist, research drifts. One day you read a whole annual report, the next you skim a homepage. A prospect research checklist makes the work repeatable. Reps do the same steps, managers can review the notes and new hires get up to speed faster.

It also protects you from the worst outreach mistakes: the wrong name, the wrong role, a company that was acquired last month, or a product you do not sell to them.

The prospect research checklist#

Copy this prospect research checklist into your CRM as a note template.

1. Company#

• What the company sells and to whom
• Size band and rough stage (startup, growth, established)
• Location and the markets it serves
• Tools it uses that touch your product, if visible
• Recent news: funding, launches, hiring, leadership changes
• Competitors and how it positions itself

2. Person#

• Current title and how long they have held it
• What the role is likely to care about
• Past roles or companies that connect to your offer
• Anything they published: posts, talks, podcasts, articles
• Who they report to, and who reports to them

3. Trigger#

• The event that makes now a good time to write
• A change in the business: new hire, expansion, product release
• A pain point you can see from outside, such as a job post for a role your product could support

4. Contact route#

• A work email, found and verified
• A direct phone number if you plan to call
• LinkedIn profile for a connection note
• A second contact in the same account as a backup

5. Fit#

• Does the company match your ideal customer profile?
• Is this person a decision maker, an influencer or a user?
• Is there a reason to skip them, such as a competitor relationship?

Where to find each item on your prospect research checklist#

You do not need paid tools for most of this.

• Company website: product pages, pricing, customers, the about page and the careers page.
• LinkedIn: the company page for size and hires, and the person's profile for role and history.
• News and press pages: announcements, funding and partnerships. For US-listed companies, SEC EDGAR holds filings with plain statements about strategy and risks.
• Job posts: open roles reveal priorities and tools in use.
• Podcasts and conference talks: direct statements from the person.
• Review sites and forums: what customers say about the company or its category.

Always note the source next to the fact. You will want to check it before you quote it.

Find the contact details#

Research is wasted if the message never arrives. After the profile is clear, find a work address. The Tomba email finder finds an address from a name and a company domain, and domain search lists the addresses a company has published, which also shows its naming pattern. If you start from a LinkedIn profile, the LinkedIn finder can help you find the matching work email.

Then verify. An email verifier tells you whether the mailbox is likely to accept mail. Bounces hurt your sender reputation, so this step pays for itself.

Turn research into a first line#

Choose one fact and tie it to the reason you are writing. A formula that works:

I saw [specific fact]. Teams in that position often [problem]. [One-line offer or question].

A sample:

I saw your team is hiring two outbound reps. Teams that grow that fast often struggle to keep contact data clean. Is that on your radar?

Use only facts you checked, and do not claim more than you know. If you are unsure about a detail, leave it out.

Adjust depth by account value#

Not every prospect deserves the same effort.

Set your own tiers using your average deal size and the time your team has.

Keep your prospect research checklist notes useful#

• Use a standard format. The same headings every time.
• Store notes on the contact or account record. Not in a personal doc.
• Date them. Facts go stale.
• Record what you sent. Then the next touch can build on it.

Common mistakes#

• Researching too long. Time spent on a prospect who never replies is lost.
• Quoting something personal. Stay with professional facts.
• Stale information. A change in role may have happened since you read the page.
• Skipping the contact check. A good message to a dead address helps nobody.
• Treating the list as a script. The checklist feeds the message. It is not the message.

Frequently asked questions#

How long should prospect research take?#

About five minutes for most accounts, and more for your best targets.

What is the most important item?#

The trigger. It tells you why you are writing now, which is what a reader wants to know.

Where do I store the research?#

On the contact or account record in your CRM, with the date and the source of each fact.

How do I find a prospect's email after research?#

Use an email finder with the person's name and company domain, then verify the address before you send.

Can I automate prospect research?#

You can automate lookups such as company size and contact details. The choice of the trigger and the wording of the message still need a person.

Next step#

Finish your research with a working address. Try the Tomba Email Finder to turn a name and a company domain into a contact you can verify.