Before reaching out to any prospect, create a dedicated Google Doc capturing all research findings. This doc becomes the single source of truth for all outreach — emails, calls, LinkedIn messages — and ensures that insights gathered once are never lost or repeated from scratch. The goal is to sound like you've done your homework, because you have.
A well-built research doc lets you lead with value: specific, data-backed observations about the prospect's business that demonstrate expertise before you ask for anything.
Related: [1]
[Company Name] Insights - [MMDD]
Example: Twisted Alchemy Insights - 1125
The date suffix prevents confusion when docs are revisited or refreshed in future quarters.
Complete these steps in order. The full process takes 10–15 minutes per prospect.
Visit the prospect's website directly before opening any tools. Note:
company.com) redirect to www.company.com? If not, flag it — this is a common, high-impact SEO error and an immediate talking point.Example: Twisted Alchemy's naked domain (
twistedalchemy.com) did not redirect towww.twistedalchemy.com— a critical technical SEO flaw that was immediately visible and highly credible as an outreach hook.
Open Claude (not a saved Project — use a fresh chat). Paste the URL and prompt:
Tell me about this company: [URL]
Claude will summarize the business model, products, distribution channels, and any notable recent news (e.g., retail expansions, partnerships). This saves you from reading every page on the site.
Example output for Twisted Alchemy: Chicago-based cold-pressed juice company, B2B cocktail mixer focus, recently expanded into Whole Foods across the Midwest and Southwest, distributes via Sysco and WebstaurantStore.
Paste this summary directly into the Google Doc under a Company Overview heading.
Log in with the team Ahrefs account. Enter the prospect's domain in Site Explorer and capture:
| Metric | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Organic traffic trend (2-year) | Flat or declining = stagnation story; growing = momentum story |
| Total organic keywords | Raw count of ranking terms |
| Traffic capture rate | Keywords ranking vs. keywords generating traffic — a large gap signals untapped potential |
| Average keyword position | Positions 11–20 are "just outside the money zone" — easy wins |
| Average keyword difficulty | Low difficulty (under 10) = achievable gains |
| Pages indexed trend | Declining pages = content is being lost or de-indexed |
Export the keyword data as a Google Sheet or PDF and paste the relevant rows into the doc. PDFs tend to parse better when fed to AI tools in the next step.
Key framing examples:
- "You rank for 898 keywords but only generate traffic from 42% of them — like having 898 fishing lines in the water with bait on only 380."
- "Your average position is 16, bottom of page 2 — just outside the money zone."
- "Your average keyword difficulty is 5.96, which means these are winnable battles."
Opportunity sizing: Identify 3–5 keywords in positions 11–20. Estimate the revenue impact of moving them to page 1 using a standard formula:
Additional monthly visitors × 2% conversion rate × average order value × 12 = annual revenue opportunity
Example: 5 keywords pushed to page 1 → 5,500 additional visitors/month → $330,000 in estimated annual revenue (at 2% CVR and $250 AOV).
Also flag any massive misses: high-volume keywords where the prospect ranks very low (e.g., position 91 for a 60,000/month search term).
Log in with the team SpyFu account (credentials from Mark). Search the prospect's domain and navigate to the competitor view.
Capture:
- Top 5 organic competitors by name and domain
- Traffic trend comparison across competitors
- Whether the entire market segment is declining (often attributable to AI search influence post-mid-2024)
Paste the competitor list and trend summary into the doc.
Strategic framing options:
- If the prospect is growing while competitors decline: "There's an opportunity to capture market share from [Competitor] as their traffic falls."
- If the prospect is also declining: "We're seeing this across the [industry] category — [Competitor A] and [Competitor B] are both down since mid-2024. We'd like to help you recover the growth you had before."
Naming a specific competitor in outreach signals that you've done real research, not generic prospecting.
Use the Awesome Screenshot Chrome extension to capture a full-page screenshot of the Ahrefs Site Explorer overview. Drag and drop the image into ChatGPT.
Prompt:
I'm a marketing agency doing prospect research. Analyze this Ahrefs overview and give me an agency-focused verdict on this prospect.
ChatGPT will return a structured assessment covering domain authority, traffic trends, keyword gaps, paid search absence, and a client fit verdict. Paste this output into the doc.
Tip: Configure ChatGPT's Custom Instructions (Settings → Personalization) with your agency context so it always responds from an agency perspective without needing to re-prompt each time.
Use Claude for interactive analysis (conversational follow-up, rewriting insights to speak directly to the prospect). Use ChatGPT for screenshot/image analysis (it handles visual data well).
Paste everything in without heavy formatting. Speed matters more than polish — the doc is a working reference, not a deliverable.
[Company Name] Insights - [MMDD]
COMPANY OVERVIEW
[Claude summary]
WEBSITE OBSERVATIONS
- Naked domain redirect: YES / NO
- Site health notes
AHREFS SUMMARY
- Traffic trend: [flat / growing / declining]
- Total keywords: X
- Traffic capture rate: X%
- Avg position: X
- Avg keyword difficulty: X
- Key opportunity: [e.g., $330k revenue opportunity from 5 keywords]
- Massive miss: [e.g., Position 91 for "pomegranate juice" — 60k/mo]
[Paste exported keyword data]
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
- Top competitors: [list]
- Market trend: [growing / declining since when]
- Strategic angle: [gain share / recovery]
[Paste SpyFu export]
AI VERDICT (ChatGPT)
[Paste full ChatGPT output]
OUTREACH ANGLES
- Hook 1: [e.g., naked domain redirect issue]
- Hook 2: [e.g., $330k keyword opportunity]
- Hook 3: [e.g., competitor X is declining — chance to take share]
Once the doc is complete:
The doc is a reusable asset. Every email, voicemail, LinkedIn message, and sales call for this prospect draws from the same source.
| Tool | Purpose | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Site Explorer, keyword data, export | Team login (ask Mark) |
| SpyFu | Competitor analysis, traffic trends | Team login (credentials from Mark) |
| Claude | Company summary, insight rewriting | Personal login |
| ChatGPT | Screenshot analysis, agency verdict | Personal login — configure Custom Instructions |
| Awesome Screenshot | Full-page Chrome screenshots for AI | Free Chrome extension |
| Google Docs | Per-prospect research storage | Personal Google Drive |
| HubSpot | Attach doc to contact record, email templates | Team login |