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Here's a scenario that happens more than it should.
You jump on a sales call. You've got the person's name and company. You've looked at their website for two minutes. You ask a generic opener. They give a generic answer. The call feels fine but forgettable, and you lose to a competitor who made them feel understood.
Most salespeople and business owners prepare just enough to not embarrass themselves. That's a floor, not a strategy.
The pre-call research system I'm going to walk you through takes 8 minutes and consistently puts you in the top 5% of every conversation you have. Not because you're smarter. Because you showed up knowing things most people don't bother to find out.
What You're Actually Looking For
Before any call, there are five categories of information that are genuinely useful:
Recent news or activity (company announcement, funding, leadership change, product launch)
Current pain signals (job postings reveal what they're struggling to solve, public reviews reveal what customers complain about)
Strategic priorities (what the company says it's focused on, where they're investing)
Personal touchpoints (what the person you're meeting has posted, said publicly, or been quoted on)
Competitor context (who they're likely comparing you against and why)
Collecting all five used to take 45 minutes of research. Now it takes 8.
The Automation Layer
Here's how to build this:
Trigger: New meeting booked (from your calendar, from a form fill, from a CRM update)
Make.com pulls:
Company website and LinkedIn page
Recent news from the past 90 days (via a search API or web scraping trigger)
The contact's LinkedIn activity (recent posts, articles, job changes)
Current open job postings for the company
AI Prompt:
"You are a sales intelligence analyst preparing a pre-call brief. Using the information below about [COMPANY NAME] and [CONTACT NAME], generate a structured brief with these sections:
1. Company Snapshot (3 sentences max: what they do, recent news, current size/stage)
2. Strategic Priorities (what the company appears to be focused on right now, based on job postings, content, and news)
3. Pain Signal Watch (any indicators of challenges they're currently facing)
4. Personal Touchpoints (2-3 things the contact has said publicly that I can reference naturally in conversation)
5. Positioning Note (how to frame what I do in the context of what matters to them right now)
6. Opening Move (one specific question I should ask in the first 5 minutes to build trust and demonstrate preparation)
Research data: [PASTE PULLED DATA]"
That prompt generates a brief you can read in 3 minutes. By the time you're on the call, you know more about this person's world than they expected you to.
The Clay Integration
If you're running outbound at any kind of scale, Clay is the tool that makes this automatic at volume.
Clay pulls enrichment data on contacts automatically, including current role, company details, recent news, and LinkedIn signals. You can build waterfall enrichment that tries multiple data sources and fills in gaps automatically.
Pair that with the AI prompt above and every rep on your team walks into every call with a solid brief, without spending a minute on research.
Clay affiliate link: clay.earth
The Human Layer: How to Use the Brief
The brief is research, not a script. Here's how I use it:
Before the call: I read it once. I highlight two things: the opening move question and one personal touchpoint I can reference naturally.
On the call: I work the opening move into the first five minutes. I reference the personal touchpoint when it fits, which it usually does within the first ten.
Result: The person on the other end feels like you did your homework. You listened before the conversation started. That's rare. And rare gets remembered.
Common Mistakes With This System
Over-researching. If you spend 20 minutes on a brief that should take 3, you've turned a productivity tool into a time sink. Trust the system. Read the output. Move on.
Citing research obviously. "I noticed your company just announced X" is fine once. Using your research as a monologue sounds like surveillance. Reference it naturally, not as a performance.
Ignoring the personal layer. Company data is table stakes. Knowing what the individual person cares about, has said publicly, or is focused on right now is what actually creates connection. Don't skip that section.
The Bottom Line
Preparation is a form of respect. When you show up knowing something about someone's world, you're telling them: you're worth my time before this call even starts.
Most people can't pull that off because they don't have the time. You now have a system that does it in 8 minutes.
Use it on your next call this week. See what the response is like.
Want the full Clay plus Make.com pre-call research automation with the complete prompt library? Inside the AI Business Accelerator. Comment ACCELERATOR to get the details.
Jordan Hale | The AI Newsroom
Practical AI for people who have a business to run.