Account Research

Prepare for any prospect meeting with a complete account briefing. AI synthesizes public signals into technology stack guesses, likely pain points, and conversation starters.

Skill Details

Install this skill

Versionv1.0.0AuthorJorge ArteagaLicenseMITSections16

Works with

Claude CodeCursorWindsurf

When This Skill Owns the TaskWorkflow

Required Context to Gather FirstWorkflow

Before building an account brief, ask for or infer:

Company name — Public or private? Ticker symbol if public?

Meeting date and who we're meeting — Title and department of the attendees

Meeting purpose — First meeting, technical review, executive briefing, renewal?

Known context — What do we already know? (past conversations, existing Salesforce usage)

Salesforce products in scope — What are we hoping to talk about?

Depth needed — 5-minute scan or thorough 30-minute deep-dive?

WorkflowWorkflow

Gather company basics — Size, revenue, HQ, business model, recent news.

Analyze public signals — Earnings calls, 10-K, press releases, job postings, LinkedIn.

Infer technology stack — Use job postings and press releases to identify current tech.

Map pain points from signals — What are they struggling with based on public evidence?

Connect pain to Salesforce — Which products solve the inferred pain points?

Research the attendees — LinkedIn profiles, recent posts, speaking history.

Generate conversation starters — Questions tailored to their specific situation.

Produce the briefing — Use the output template below.

Core Frameworks

Public Signal Sources and What They Reveal

Technology Stack Inference from Job Postings

Job postings reveal the current tech stack through required skills. Look for:

Pain Point Signals Decoder

Output FormatTemplate

Account Briefing Template

MARKDOWN

# Account Briefing — [Company Name]
**Meeting Date:** [Date] | **SE:** [Name] | **AE:** [Name]
**Meeting Purpose:** [First meeting / Technical review / Executive briefing]

---

## Company Snapshot
- **Full Name:** [Company name]
- **HQ:** [City, State/Country]
- **Size:** [Revenue] | [Employee count]
- **Business Model:** [B2B / B2C / B2B2C / SaaS / etc.]
- **Industry:** [Vertical] | **Sub-vertical:** [If applicable]
- **Public/Private:** [Ticker if public]
- **Founded:** [Year] | [Brief origin story if relevant]

---

## What's Happening Right Now
[3-5 bullet points: the most important recent news, announcements, or signals]
- [Signal 1] — [Source and date] — [What this means for the conversation]
- [Signal 2]
- [Signal 3]

---

## Likely Technology Stack

| Category | Likely System | Confidence | Evidence |
|----------|--------------|-----------|---------|
| CRM | [System] | H/M/L | [Source] |
| Marketing | [System] | H/M/L | [Source] |
| ERP | [System] | H/M/L | [Source] |
| Data / BI | [System] | H/M/L | [Source] |
| Service | [System] | H/M/L | [Source] |

**Salesforce Footprint:** [None / Partial — which clouds / Full]

---

## Inferred Pain Points

| Pain Signal | Source | Likely Pain | Salesforce Solution |
|------------|--------|------------|-------------------|
| [What we saw] | [Where we saw it] | [The pain] | [Product] |

---

## About the Attendees

### [Name] — [Title]
- **LinkedIn:** [URL]
- **Background:** [2-3 sentences from their profile]
- **Recent activity:** [Any recent posts, talks, or articles]
- **What they care about:** [Inferred from role and background]
- **Conversation angle:** [How to connect with this person]

---

## Conversation Starters
1. "[Specific question based on a recent signal — not generic]"
2. "[Question connecting their industry trend to their situation]"
3. "[Question about the pain point you most want to explore]"

---

## Hypotheses to Test (What We Believe Going In)
1. [Hypothesis — "We believe their biggest challenge is X because we saw Y"]
2. [Hypothesis]
3. [Hypothesis]

## What We Don't Know Yet (Open Questions)
- [ ] [Critical unknown that the meeting should answer]
- [ ] [Critical unknown]

Anti-PatternsReference

Scoring Rubric (80 Points)Reference

Cross-Skill IntegrationReference

Task	This Skill	Defer To
Build a company briefing for a prospect meeting	Yes	—
Analyze public signals for pain points	Yes	—
Infer technology stack from job postings and press releases	Yes	—
Generate conversation starters for a specific meeting	Yes	—
Research an entire industry vertical	No	sf-se-industry-research
Map specific named stakeholders	No	sf-se-stakeholder-mapping
Build the full deal win plan	No	sf-se-deal-strategy
Source	What to Look For	Signals It Reveals
10-K / Annual Report	"Risk Factors" and "Operations" sections	Strategic priorities, growth challenges, regulatory exposure
Earnings Call Transcripts	CEO/CFO commentary on challenges and investments	Executive vocabulary, current-quarter pressures, tech spend signals
Press Releases	New product launches, partnerships, hiring announcements	Strategic direction, recent wins, new initiatives
Job Postings	Technology requirements in job descriptions	Current tech stack (what they use today), future tech (what they're hiring to build)
LinkedIn (Company)	Recent posts, employee growth rate, new hires in key roles	Company health, strategic focus areas, leadership changes
LinkedIn (People)	Attendee backgrounds, recent posts, shared connections	Personal interests, professional priorities, conversation angles
Glassdoor / Indeed	Employee reviews (Engineering, Sales, IT)	Internal culture, technology frustrations, leadership trust
G2 / Capterra	Tech reviews (if they're on there)	What software they use and what they complain about
News / Google	Recent press coverage	Acquisitions, layoffs, regulatory issues, strategic shifts
Job Posting Requirement	Likely Technology
"Salesforce Admin / Developer"	Active Salesforce instance
"Dynamics 365 experience"	Microsoft CRM — potential Salesforce displacement
"SAP knowledge required"	SAP ERP (integration complexity)
"HubSpot proficiency"	HubSpot CRM (smaller deal; growth-stage company)
"Experience with Marketo/Pardot"	Marketing automation in use
"Snowflake / Databricks experience"	Modern data warehouse (Data Cloud opportunity)
"ServiceNow administration"	ITSM separate from CRM (potential Service Cloud angle)
"MuleSoft or Dell Boomi"	Integration platform already in use
Public Signal	Likely Pain Point	Salesforce Angle
Missing earnings; downward guidance	Sales forecasting and pipeline visibility	Sales Cloud + Einstein Forecasting
Customer service expansion hiring	Service scaling without proportional cost	Service Cloud + Agentforce
Multiple CRM/marketing platform job reqs	Tech stack fragmentation	Platform consolidation pitch
"Digital transformation" repeatedly in press	Legacy system modernization	Full platform vision
Acquisition announcement	Integration and data unification complexity	Data Cloud + MuleSoft
High churn mentioned in earnings	Customer retention and health scoring	Service Cloud + Success Plans
Compliance/regulatory risk in 10-K	Data governance and compliance tooling	Salesforce Shield + Hyperforce
Anti-Pattern	Why It Fails	Fix
Walking in with no research	Asks questions the company already answered publicly; signals lack of preparation	Spend 20 minutes on the company before any meeting
Only reading the company website	Company websites are PR; they don't reveal challenges	Go to earnings calls, 10-K risk factors, and job postings for the real story
Presenting your research to the customer	"I know you acquired [Company] last quarter" feels like surveillance	Use research to form questions, not to show off what you found
Not researching the individual attendees	Generic approach; misses the personal connection opportunity	LinkedIn every attendee 30 minutes before the call
Treating inferences as facts	"I see you're using Salesforce" when they're not damages trust	Always label inferences as hypotheses: "We believe... is that accurate?"
Preparing research but not using it	Briefing stays in the notepad; conversation is still generic	Write 3 specific questions from the research that you will actually ask
Category	Points	Pass Criteria
Company Context	20	Recent news, size, business model, and strategic direction covered
Technology Stack	20	Current tech inferred from at least 2 sources; Salesforce footprint noted
Pain Point Signals	25	At least 3 pain points inferred from public signals with source cited
Attendee Research	15	Each named attendee has a background summary and conversation angle
Skill	When to Use It
sf-se-industry-research	Understand the vertical context before the account-specific research
sf-se-stakeholder-mapping	Build the influence map for the specific people you've researched
sf-se-discovery	Use the hypotheses from account research as the starting point for discovery questions
sf-se-competitive	Identify competitive threats based on the inferred tech stack
sf-se-presentation	Personalize the first-meeting deck with account-specific signals