What to look for in a prospect brief: the 8 data points that win deals

Not all prospect research is created equal. You can spend 20 minutes reading a company's about page and come away with nothing useful for your call. Or you can spend 3 minutes focused on the right data points and walk in with an angle that immediately resonates.

The difference is knowing which information actually matters for a B2B sales conversation. After hundreds of cold calls and discovery meetings in SaaS sales, I've narrowed it down to 8 data points. If your prospect brief covers these, you're prepared. If it doesn't, you're guessing.

1. What the company does (in one sentence)

This sounds basic, and it is. But I've listened to enough recorded cold calls to know that plenty of AEs can't articulate what the prospect's company does when they dial.

You need one sentence: "[Company] sells [product/service] to [customer type]."

Not their mission statement. Not their tagline. What they actually sell and who buys it. If their website is full of vague language ("we empower organizations to transform their digital journey"), check their LinkedIn company description or a review site like G2. The plain-language version is usually there.

Why it matters: Knowing their business model tells you how to frame your value proposition. A company that sells to enterprise has different needs than one selling to consumers. A services company operates on different margins than a product company. You adjust your pitch accordingly.

2. Company size and growth stage

Two data points here: headcount (rough range is fine) and funding stage or revenue range if available.

A 20-person seed-stage startup has a different buying process, budget, and urgency than a 300-person Series C company. The seed-stage startup might have the founder making every purchasing decision. The Series C company might have a procurement team, a budget cycle, and three people who need to approve.

Where to find it: LinkedIn shows employee count. Crunchbase shows funding history. If neither is available, look at their careers page — a company with 40 open roles is growing fast, regardless of what their headcount says.

3. Your contact's role and tenure

Two things about the person you're calling: their job title and how long they've been in it.

Tenure is the underrated signal here. Someone who started in a VP role 2 months ago was hired to change something. They're evaluating tools, rethinking processes, and building their team's stack. They're more open to new vendors than someone who's been in the same role for 3 years and has established workflows.

The title tells you what they care about. A VP of Sales cares about pipeline and quota attainment. A Director of Marketing cares about lead quality and cost per acquisition. A Head of RevOps cares about data integrity and process efficiency. Speak to their priorities, not yours.

4. Recent company signals (last 90 days)

A signal is something that changed. Funding round. Leadership hire. Product launch. Office expansion. Layoff. Partnership announcement.

Signals give you two things: a reason to call right now (not next month, today) and a hypothesis about what's top of mind.

A company that just raised a Series B is probably hiring, expanding, and buying tools to support growth. A company that just appointed a new CRO probably has a 90-day mandate to improve sales performance. A company that announced a partnership might be entering a new market and needs to research new prospects.

One recent signal is enough. You don't need three. You need one that's relevant to what you sell.

5. Their likely pain point (your hypothesis)

This isn't something you find — it's something you infer from data points 1-4. Based on what you know about their company, role, and situation, what problem are they probably dealing with?

Write it as one sentence: "They're probably struggling with ___."

This hypothesis is the backbone of your opening on the call. Instead of asking the generic "what are your biggest challenges?", you lead with a specific guess: "A lot of teams scaling from 5 to 15 AEs run into issues with inconsistent prospecting quality. Is that something you're seeing?"

Even if you're wrong, a specific guess creates a better conversation than a blank question. The prospect will correct you ("actually, our bigger issue is..."), and now you've uncovered their real pain point in 30 seconds.

6. Decision-makers and buying committee

Who, beyond your contact, would be involved in a purchasing decision?

For small deals (under $5K/year), the answer is often "just the person I'm talking to." For anything above that, there's usually at least one other person: a manager who needs to approve, a finance person who controls the budget, or a technical evaluator who needs to verify integration.

You don't need every name mapped before the first call. What you need is a sense of the structure: is this a solo decision or a committee decision? You can confirm on the call: "Besides yourself, who else would need to weigh in if this looks like a fit?"

Knowing this early prevents the late-stage surprise where your champion says "actually, my CFO wants to review this," and your deal timeline doubles.

7. Current solution or competing tools

What are they using today to solve (or attempt to solve) the problem you address?

The possibilities:

Using a competitor. Your conversation is about switching: why change, what's better, how painful is the migration. You need to understand what they like about the current tool (don't badmouth it) and what's missing.

Using a manual process. They're solving the problem with spreadsheets, manual research, or brute force. Your conversation is about the cost of manual work: time wasted, errors, inconsistency. The switch from "nothing" to "something" requires building urgency.

Using nothing. They don't see the problem as worth solving. Your conversation is about awareness: helping them realize the hidden cost. This is the hardest sale because you're creating demand, not capturing it.

Each scenario requires a completely different call approach. If you walk in without knowing which one you're facing, you'll waste the first 5 minutes figuring it out.

8. One opening angle

Based on everything above, write one sentence you'll use in the first 15 seconds of the call.

It should connect a signal or insight to a relevant question:

• "I saw your team just expanded into APAC. When companies make that move, prospecting in new markets is usually a challenge. Is that something your team is working through?"
• "Noticed you started as VP of Sales about 3 months ago. People in your shoes are usually re-evaluating the sales stack. Have you had a chance to look at how your team does prospect research?"
• "Your company posted 6 new AE roles this month. Scaling the team that fast usually means the research and prep process needs to scale too. How are you handling that currently?"

The opening angle turns your research into a conversation. Without it, you have a collection of facts. With it, you have a reason to talk.

What a complete prospect brief looks like

Putting it all together, here's what a brief should contain for a typical B2B SaaS outbound call:

Company: [What they do, who they sell to, approximate size/stage]

Contact: [Name, title, tenure]

Signal: [One recent event or change]

Pain hypothesis: [What they're probably dealing with]

Buying committee: [Solo decision or committee? Key roles involved]

Current solution: [Competitor, manual process, or nothing]

Opening angle: [Your first sentence on the call]

Seven items. One page. If you have these 8 data points covered, you're more prepared than 90% of cold callers.

If you want this generated automatically, Emiko produces briefs in this format in about 60 seconds. But even if you build the brief manually using LinkedIn and Google, the framework above ensures you're focusing on research that actually helps you sell, not research that just makes you feel prepared.