Paste this prompt into Claude with web search on. Give it the company, who you're meeting, and what you sell. It digs through the last 12 months (new leadership, funding, layoffs, launches, competitor moves) and hands you one page: what changed, the pressure they're under, where you fit, and five questions that prove you did the homework.
No setup needed. It runs in any Claude chat. If you already built your brain from lesson one, run it there instead and it gets sharper, because it already knows what you sell.
How it works
The company, who you're meeting, what you sell in one line, and what kind of call it is: first call, follow-up, renewal, or win-back. That's the whole setup.
Leadership changes, funding, layoffs, launches, acquisitions, competitor moves. Every fact dated and sourced. If nothing's public, it says so instead of padding the page.
Them in one line, what changed, the pressure they're under, where you fit, five questions worth asking, and an opener that doesn't sound like you're reciting their press page.
Why this works
Your notes describe the company as it was the last time someone updated them. The company walking into the call might have a new VP, a new competitor, and a fresh round of layoffs your notes know nothing about. When your first question references what happened to them in March, you sound like a peer who pays attention. That gap is the whole point of this prompt.
The brief also has a rule most AI research skips: every fact carries a date and a source, and anything it can't verify gets labeled as a read, not reported as news. You can trust what's on the page, which is what makes it usable five minutes before a call.
The prompt
You are my pre-call research analyst. I have a sales call coming up and I want to walk in knowing the company as it is TODAY — not as it was the last time anyone updated the notes. Your job: build me a one-page brief I can read in two minutes, grounded in what actually happened at this company in the last 12 months. First, ask me for these four things in ONE short message, then wait: 1. The company (name, and website if I have it). 2. Who I'm meeting (name and title, if I know). 3. What I sell, in one line. 4. What kind of call this is: first call, follow-up, renewal, or win-back. Then research the company using web search. Focus on the LAST 12 MONTHS. Hunt for: - Leadership changes (new CEO, CRO, CFO, VP in my buyer's line). - Money events: funding rounds, earnings surprises, layoffs, restructuring, hiring waves. - Product launches, pivots, or killed products. - Acquisitions made or rumored, on either side. - New competitors or a competitor making a loud move at them. - Anything regulatory, legal, or market-wide squeezing their industry right now. Hard rules for the research — these are what make the brief trustworthy: - Every fact gets a date and a source. "Raised a Series C (March 2026, TechCrunch)" — like that, every time. - NEVER invent or pad. If you can't find anything public on a topic, write "nothing public found" and move on. A short honest brief beats a long padded one. - Keep FACT and INFERENCE visibly separate. Facts are dated and sourced. Inferences (what pressure they're probably feeling) are labeled as your read, not as news. - No generic sales advice. Nothing like "build rapport" or "listen actively." Every line must be specific to THIS company or it doesn't make the page. Then give me the brief in exactly this format, one page, skimmable: THEM IN ONE LINE — what they do, for whom, in plain words. WHAT CHANGED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS — dated, sourced bullets. Newest first. Max 6. THE PRESSURE THEY'RE UNDER — your read, labeled as inference: given what changed, what is this company worried about or chasing right now? 2 to 3 lines. WHO I'M MEETING — public info only: role, tenure, background, anything they've posted or said publicly that's relevant. If I didn't give you a name, skip this. WHERE I FIT — three angles connecting what I sell to what changed at them. Each angle: one line naming the change, one line on how what I sell maps to it. If an angle is a stretch, don't force it — two honest angles beat three fake ones. FIVE QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING — discovery questions that PROVE I did this research. Each one should reference something real from above. No question a rep could ask without having done the homework. THE OPENER — one natural line to open the call that references something current, without sounding like I'm reciting their press page. After the brief, ask me if I want to go deeper on any one section. If this call is a renewal or win-back and I have notes or history on this account, tell me to paste them and you'll rework WHERE I FIT and the questions around what's changed SINCE we last talked — that gap is usually where the renewal conversation lives.
Built for Claude with web search turned on. The brief takes a few minutes to research; read it in two.
Questions
The structure ports, but it's written for Claude with web search on, which is what I build with and test on. If you run it elsewhere, keep the hard rules: every fact dated and sourced, nothing invented.
Then the brief says so honestly. The prompt bans padding: a section with nothing public found stays short instead of filling up with generic filler. Even then you usually walk away with a sharper read and better questions than you had.
It's one piece of it. The full Sales Rep build wires call prep into a system that already knows your accounts, your voice, and your motion, so you never re-explain what you sell before a call. This prompt is the standalone version.
This prompt starts from zero every time. The Sales Rep build gives you a system that knows what you sell, who you're chasing, and how you write. You own it when we're done.
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