Good outreach starts with about 10 minutes of research, not zero and not an hour. The goal is not a dossier; it is one specific, recent, relevant detail you can open with. Here are 10 places to look, split between the contact and the account, what to look for in each, and how to turn it into a first line, plus how to keep it to 10 minutes so you research enough prospects to actually hit volume.
This is the secondary-research method behind every researched call and personalized email we send. It pairs with cold email personalization tactics and cold email openers that work, which turn what you find into copy, and with trigger events and buying signals, which is what many of these sources are really hunting for.
Where to research the contact
- 1. Their LinkedIn profile. Role, tenure, what they were doing before, and how they describe their own remit. It tells you what they are measured on, which is what your opener should speak to.
- 2. Their LinkedIn activity. What they post, comment on, and react to. Their own words are the best possible material for a relevant, non-creepy opener.
- 3. Their own content elsewhere. Podcasts, talks, articles, a quote in a press piece. A senior prospect often has a public point of view you can reference specifically.
- 4. Mutual connections and shared context. A shared former employer, a common connection, a group you are both in. Genuine shared context is one of the highest-response hooks there is.
Where to research the account
- 5. The company's LinkedIn page and recent news. Headcount trend, recent announcements, leadership changes. New leaders in their first 90 days are especially worth reaching.
- 6. The website: about, product, and pricing pages. What they actually sell, to whom, and how they position. The pricing page often reveals their model and their motion.
- 7. The careers or jobs page. Open roles are a loud signal. Hiring three SDRs, a RevOps lead, or a new-market role tells you exactly what they are trying to fix right now.
- 8. Recent press, funding, or investor updates. Funding, expansion, or (for public companies) earnings commentary point at budget, pressure, and priorities you can tie your outreach to.
- 9. Review sites and product pages. What their customers praise and complain about tells you where the pressure is, and sometimes hands you the exact language to use.
- 10. Tech-stack and tooling signals. Job descriptions, integrations pages, and public stack signals show what they use, which matters when your fit depends on it.
| Source | Look for | Turn it into |
|---|---|---|
| Their LinkedIn profile | Role, remit, what they own | An opener about their actual priority |
| Their LinkedIn activity | Their own words and interests | A specific reference to what they said |
| Their content (talks, posts) | A public point of view | A genuine, factual reference |
| Mutual connections | Shared context | A warm, borrowed-trust opener |
| Company news and LinkedIn | Leadership changes, momentum | A trigger-based first line |
| Website and pricing | What and how they sell | A fit-specific hook |
| Careers page | Roles they are hiring | A 'you are clearly scaling X' opener |
| Press and funding | Budget and pressure signals | A timely, relevant reason to reach out |
| Review and product pages | Customer pain and language | Their own words for the problem |
| Tech-stack signals | Tools they use | A relevance or integration hook |
How to do it in 10 minutes (and not fall down a hole)
The discipline matters as much as the sources. It is easy to spend an hour on one prospect and reach three people all day, which is the opposite of what you want. Give most accounts a fixed 10-minute pass: scan the contact (sources 1 and 2), scan the account for a trigger (sources 5, 7, and 8), grab the one best hook, and move on. You are looking for a single specific detail, not a complete picture.
Reserve deeper research for the accounts that justify it. High-value, account-based targets earn a longer look; a large, lower-value list gets the 10-minute version or lighter. Matching research depth to account value is the same trade as account-based outreach vs volume outbound, and it is what keeps research from quietly killing your outreach volume.
Turning research into a relevant opener
Research is only useful if it changes the first line. The rule: whatever you found, the opener should be a line that could only have been written to this person. A funding round becomes 'saw you just raised, and you are clearly scaling the US team'; a job posting becomes 'you are hiring three SDRs but no enablement lead.' If your research does not change your opener, you did not research, you procrastinated. The openers this feeds are in cold email openers that work, and on the phone it is what separates the best callers from the rest, per things the best cold callers do differently.
Research is not the same as data
One clarification: this is secondary research to gain insight, not list building. Getting a verified email and phone number is a data problem, covered in where to get B2B contact data. This post is about the 10 minutes after you have the contact, when you work out what to actually say. Good data gets you the right door; good research gets it opened.
How MarginSales researches before reaching out
MarginSales provides sales outreach services for companies that want to extend their outbound capacity without building the entire sales development function internally. Every call we make and email we send is researched first: a fixed pass across these sources to find one specific, true hook, with deeper research reserved for high-value accounts. It is why our outreach reads as one-to-one, and it is the single habit that moves reply and connect rates most.
Frequently asked questions
How do you research a prospect before reaching out?
Spend about 10 minutes across a fixed set of sources: the prospect's LinkedIn profile and recent activity, the company's LinkedIn page and news, the website (about, pricing, careers), the jobs page for hiring signals, recent press or funding, the prospect's own posts or talks, review and product pages for what customers say, tech-stack signals, and mutual connections. Look for one specific, recent, relevant hook you can open with, then stop.
What should you look for when researching an account?
Signals that suggest timing and fit: recent funding, new leadership, hiring in relevant roles, product launches, expansion, or a public problem they have described. On the contact, look for their role, priorities, and their own words. The goal is not a dossier; it is one specific, true detail that makes your first line relevant to them right now.
How long should you spend researching a prospect?
About 10 minutes for most accounts. Enough to find one specific, relevant hook and understand the basics, not so much that you fall down a rabbit hole and research three prospects in an hour. Reserve deeper research for high-value accounts where the deal size justifies it; for everyone else, a focused 10-minute pass is the right trade between relevance and volume.
Want outreach that is researched, not sprayed?
Tell us your target accounts, and we will show you the research pass we run before every touch, or run researched outreach for you, whether or not you work with us. Book a 20-minute review.