Research a prospect before any outbound touch
Images on this page are for illustrative purposes only. Example outputs are based on Lusha data, with personal details masked or abbreviated for privacy.
This Claude prompt builds a one-screen brief before you reach out to a prospect — email, LinkedIn, or phone. Lusha validates the contact, enriches the company, and surfaces the one signal worth leading with. The output is a contact, a company snapshot, an opening angle specific to this person, and a channel-ready first line — all in under two minutes.
The prompt
This prompt may contain placeholders — look for [BRACKETS] and fill them in.
<context>
I'm about to reach out to a prospect — email, LinkedIn, or phone. Before I do, I want a complete one-screen research brief on them and their company so the first touch is relevant, not generic.
My prospect:
- Name and title: [NAME, TITLE]
- Company: [COMPANY NAME]
- What I sell: [PRODUCT / SOLUTION]
- Channel I'm using first: [EMAIL / LINKEDIN / PHONE]
- Any context I already have: [REFERRAL / EVENT / INBOUND / COLD]
</context>
<task>
1. Use Lusha to validate and enrich the contact:
- Confirm their current title and that they're still at the company
- Pull their verified work email and direct phone
- Note their tenure in the current role
- Seniority read: are they a decision-maker, an influencer, or an end user for what I sell?
2. Use Lusha to enrich the company:
- Current headcount and recent growth trend
- Industry and sub-industry
- HQ location and geography
- Headcount in the function I sell into
3. Use Lusha's signals layer to find one reason to reach out today:
- Recent funding event
- New exec hire in the relevant function
- Headcount growth in the team I sell into
- M&A activity
- If no signal found: flag as "no live signal — reach out based on ICP fit"
4. Return a one-screen prospect brief:
CONTACT
- Verified name, title, email, phone
- Tenure and seniority read (decision-maker / influencer / end user)
COMPANY
- Size, industry, relevant function headcount
- One sentence on what they do
SIGNAL
- The one thing happening right now that makes this touch timely
- Or: "no live signal" if nothing found
OPENING ANGLE
- One sentence connecting the signal (or their role) to what I sell
- Specific to this person — not a template line
CHANNEL NOTE
- For email: subject line under 8 words
- For LinkedIn: connection note under 35 words
- For phone: opening line under 20 words
</task>
<constraints>
- Base everything on what Lusha returns. Don't invent signals, company facts, or contact details.
- The opening angle must be specific to this person and this signal. A line that could go to any prospect is not acceptable output.
- One screen. I'm reading this before I reach out, not during.
- If the contact can't be verified, flag it — don't assume the title is current.
</constraints>What you'll get back
The situation: An SDR at a sales intelligence platform is about to email S.R., the new VP of Sales at Waverly Digital — 22 days into the role. Cold outreach, email first.
Output: One screen. Verified contact, company snapshot, live signal, email subject line ready to use.
Prospect brief — S.R., VP of Sales, Waverly Digital
CONTACT
- S.R., VP of Sales, Waverly Digital
- Verified work email: s.r@[waverly].com ✓
- Direct mobile: available (masked for privacy)
- Tenure: 22 days in role
- Seniority read: Decision-maker — VP of Sales owns the sales tooling budget at a company this size
COMPANY
- Waverly Digital · 190 employees · SaaS · Vancouver, Canada
- Sales team: ~28 reps currently, 8 open sales roles posted
- What they do: marketing analytics platform for mid-market e-commerce brands
SIGNAL
New VP of Sales hired 22 days ago — first VP Sales hire at a previously founder-led sales org. 8 open sales roles currently posted signals active team build-out.
Two overlapping signals: a new VP still in listening mode, and a sales team scaling fast enough that data and tooling gaps will surface quickly.
OPENING ANGLE
“You’re building the sales function from scratch at Waverly — the data layer is usually the first thing that breaks when you scale past 20 reps.”
CHANNEL NOTE — Email
Subject: Building the sales stack at Waverly
(7 words. References the build-out context without stating the obvious.)
Contact and signals validated via Lusha connector, May 21. Details masked for privacy.
Why use Lusha in Claude
Prospect research done manually means 10 minutes on LinkedIn, a company website visit, a guess at the email format, and a generic opening line that could go to anyone. Lusha in Claude does the same job in 90 seconds and returns something LinkedIn can’t: a verified direct contact, a headcount read on the specific team you’re selling into, and a signal layer that tells you whether something is happening at the account right now. The opening angle comes from that signal — not from a “personalisation” formula that swaps in the company name. That’s the difference between a first touch that gets read and one that gets archived.
Data drawn from 300M+ verified contacts under GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, ISO 27701, ISO 31700, and TRUSTe.
FAQ
Does this work for any outbound channel or just email?
All three — email, LinkedIn, and phone. The CHANNEL NOTE section adjusts based on which channel you specify. Email returns a subject line. LinkedIn returns a connection note under 35 words. Phone returns an opening line under 20 words. Specify the channel in the context field and the brief tailors accordingly.
What if there's no live signal at the account?
The brief returns “no live signal — reach out based on ICP fit” and the opening angle shifts to the contact’s role and situation rather than a specific event. That’s still a useful brief — it tells you to lead with the fit, not a trigger.
What's the difference between this and the cold call prep prompt?
The cold call prep prompt is built specifically for a phone call — it returns a call brief with an objection handler and a call goal. This prompt is channel-agnostic and covers the research layer that applies before any first touch. Use this one when you’re deciding how to reach out and what to say. Use the cold call prompt when you’ve already decided to call and need the dialing brief.
What if I only have a company name and no contact yet?
Run the prospect list from signal prompt first to find the right contact at the company, then run this prompt with the name it returns. The two plays are designed to run in sequence.
Can I run this for multiple prospects at once?
Run it one at a time. The opening angle is specific to the individual — the value is in the personalization, not the volume. For building a prioritized list of who to research, use the prospect list prompt first, then run this one for each Tier 1 contact before you reach out.
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