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Sales training and coaching · Prospecting and meeting-booking practice

Research only the prospects who pass a filter, and keep it to one page each.

A prospect research brief is a one-page note on a single prospect that says who they are, what they are likely to care about and what you will open with. It is written only for prospects who pass a scoring filter. Each brief ends in a hook line for the first message and a note for the first meeting.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

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In one paragraph

A prospect research brief is a one-page note on a single prospect that says who they are, what they are likely to care about and what you will open with. It is written only for prospects who pass a scoring filter. Each brief ends in a hook line for the first message and a note for the first meeting.

A rep at a staffing firm in Hyderabad has a list of two hundred companies and a polite habit of researching every one. Forty minutes each, eight days of work, and by the end the first names are stale. Five replies come back from two hundred messages, and two of those say 'not now'.

The brief only makes sense with a filter in front of it. Score each name from 1 to 5 on person criteria (role, time in role, responsibilities) and company criteria (trade, size, a visible need). The ones who score four or more on both get a brief. The rest wait.

The sales head writes the scoring guide, the rep scores and writes. Thirty to sixty minutes per brief is the cost, so you only afford it for the top ten or so. The owner reads two of them every month to check they are specific.

It sits after the prospect list and good fit test, and before the first message and the first meeting. A brief that cannot supply a hook line has not found anything and should say so.

Where this sits

Topic 2 of 8 in sales training and coaching: prospecting and meeting-booking practice. Drills for finding good-fit prospects and getting meetings. Distinct from the sales-process sourcing and prospect-list pages: these are practice routines.

If you want this done for you

Your team spends the morning finding numbers instead of calling them.

Read the prospect research and list development page

The work

What this is actually like.

  • “The filter saves more than the brief”

    The cheapest research is deciding not to do it. Scoring takes two or three minutes a name, and it tells you which ninety names are not worth forty minutes each. Do the scoring in one sitting with the guide beside you.

  • “Find the reason this month”

    A new plant, a tender, a change of management, a competitor's launch, a hiring post for your function. Anything dated is better than anything general. A hook with a date in it sounds like attention. A hook about their 'impressive growth' sounds like a template.

  • “Write the likely pain as a guess”

    One line in your own words saying what you think worries this person. It will sometimes be wrong, and that is useful, because the first call corrects it. A brief with no guess in it is just a list of facts.

  • “Use public information and stay inside it”

    A person's professional profile, company website and news are fair. Personal social accounts, family details and anything scraped from private groups are not, and data protection rules apply to what you store. Rules differ by state and change, so ask your own lawyer.

What we do

What you end up with.

The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.

  1. The scoring guide

    Person criteria and company criteria, each scored 1 to 5, with a line saying what a 5 looks like. One page.

    Result: Finished when two reps score the same ten names within one point of each other.

  2. The scored list

    Every prospect with person score, company score and a high-quality flag for four or more on both.

    Result: Finished when the top ten are marked and the rest are parked with a date.

  3. The one-page brief

    Headings: role and tenure, company news with dates, competitors, likely pain in one line, hook line, and sources. Two hundred words at most.

    Result: Finished when the hook line could not be sent to anybody else.

  4. The pre-meeting note

    Before the first meeting, a ten-line refresh: CRM history, latest news, one rapport point from public information, and the three questions you will ask.

    Result: Finished when the note was read the morning of the meeting and added to the CRM.

  5. The reply tracker

    For each brief, did the hook get a reply, and did the reply refer to the hook.

    Result: Finished when you can compare reply rates for briefed and unbriefed prospects.

Why us

Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.

  • Marketing and sales, as one job

    Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.

  • The person on the first call does the work

    No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.

  • A baseline before anything starts

    Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.

  • The fee in writing, split three ways

    Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.

  • No guarantees we cannot keep

    The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.

  • One office, and we say so

    Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.

#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.

Your brief

Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
How many briefs should a rep write a week?
Five to ten, depending on how long each takes. More than that and quality drops. If a rep writes twenty a week, the filter is too loose.
Can AI tools write the brief?
They can gather and summarise public information quickly. Check every fact against its source and write the hook yourself, because a hook generated from the same data as everybody else's will sound like theirs.
What if there is no information online?
Small owner-run firms may have only a Maps listing and nothing else. Then the brief is the trade, the town and a phone call to the shop. Absence of data is not a reason to skip the prospect.
Where do the briefs live?
In the CRM against the prospect, not in a rep's notebook. When the rep moves on, the next one picks up the same page.
How do I keep it honest?
Add a source line to every fact. If the source is a rumour or a personal account, leave the fact out.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts. For sales work it is mostly our time, with production only where scripts, decks or CRM setup need it.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
Fixes to reply time and follow-up are the quickest to show, because the enquiries already exist. Process, CRM and training changes show as the team uses them. Each one is tracked against the baseline.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
To start, last month's enquiries in any format and time with whoever handles them. After that, access to the accounts the work touches, such as the website, Google Business Profile or CRM.

Where to go next

The work that carries this topic further.

Services

The rest of prospecting and meeting-booking practice

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Your next practical step

Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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