The short answer
A sales research template is a fixed set of fields an SDR fills in for each prospect before outreach: what the company does, who they sell to, a recent trigger, the contact's role and focus, a likely pain, a matching proof point, the angle and a source link for each fact. It keeps research short, consistent and usable in the email.
On this page
Key takeaways
Only research what you'll use: If a field never changes your email or call, delete it. Ten fields is plenty for outbound.
Every fact needs a source: Paste the link next to the note. You'll check it before sending and quote it on the call.
Tier your accounts: Top accounts get the full template; the long tail gets three fields. Match the effort to the deal size.
Notes map to the email: Trigger becomes the opener, pain the problem line, proof the credibility line, angle the ask.
The Sales Research Template (10 Fields)
Ten fields per prospect, each one there because it changes the message. Copy this into your CRM notes, a spreadsheet or your sequencer's custom fields.
PROSPECT RESEARCH: [Company] / [Contact name, title]
1. What they do: [one line, in their own words]
2. Who they sell to: [their customers: industry, size, buyer]
3. Recent trigger: [hiring, launch, funding, new leader] + [source link]
4. Contact's role: [title, time in seat, team they run]
5. Contact's focus: [what they post or talk about] + [source link]
6. Pain hypothesis: [the problem you solve that the trigger makes likely]
7. Proof match: [customer or result most similar to them]
8. Angle: [the one reason to talk now, in a sentence]
9. Opening line: [first sentence of your email or call]
10. Do not mention: [anything sensitive, outdated or unverified]
Field 10 saves you from embarrassment. Layoffs, a lawsuit, an old funding round or a guess you couldn't confirm all go here. Writing it down stops you from using it on autopilot.
Where to Find Each Field Fast
Every field has a best source, and most are free. Go straight to it instead of searching the company name and hoping.
| Field | Best source | Time |
|---|---|---|
| What they do, who they sell to | Homepage, customers or case studies page | 1 to 2 minutes |
| Recent trigger | Careers page, newsroom, LinkedIn company posts | 2 to 3 minutes |
| Contact's role and focus | Their LinkedIn profile and recent activity | 2 minutes |
| Pain hypothesis | Your notes on similar customers, plus the trigger | 1 minute |
| Proof match | Your own case studies and customer list | 1 minute |
| Angle and opening line | Your judgment, from the fields above | 2 minutes |
| Do not mention | Anything you saw but couldn't verify or date | 30 seconds |
Skip the time sinks. An "About us" page written years ago, generic industry reports and the full product catalog all feel thorough. They rarely change a single line of your email.
That's about ten minutes. If it takes longer, you're reading more than you need. The full method behind these sources is in our guide on how to research a prospect.
Sales Research Template Example: Lumen Payroll
Here's the template filled in for a fictional prospect. Priya Nair, an SDR at Northwind, which sells onboarding software for HR teams, is researching Lumen Payroll.
PROSPECT RESEARCH: Lumen Payroll / Sam Ortiz, Head of Customer Onboarding
1. What they do: 'Payroll for multi-state teams of 20 to 500'
2. Who they sell to: US companies with staff in several states
3. Recent trigger: 4 onboarding specialist roles open (careers page, posted this month)
4. Contact's role: Head of Customer Onboarding, 8 months in seat
5. Contact's focus: Posted about 'cutting time-to-first-payroll'
6. Pain hypothesis: New-customer setup is manual, so they hire people
to keep up instead of speeding up each setup
7. Proof match: A payroll customer that cut setup time with Northwind
8. Angle: Hiring 4 specialists is one fix; faster setup is another
9. Opening line: 'Saw Lumen is hiring four onboarding specialists,
and your post on time-to-first-payroll.'
10. Do not mention: An older funding round (not recent enough to raise)
Notice the sources. The trigger and the contact's focus each came from a page Priya can open again on the call. That's what makes the opening line safe to send.
Turning Research Notes Into an Email
The template is built so each field becomes one line of your email. Fill it in, then write the email in this order.
- Opener from the trigger. "Saw Lumen is hiring four onboarding specialists." One fact, no flattery.
- Problem from the pain hypothesis. "Usually that means each new customer's setup takes longer than anyone wants."
- Credibility from the proof match. "We helped a payroll company cut setup time without adding headcount."
- Ask from the angle. "Worth comparing notes on how you're handling it?"
Here's how the Lumen notes read as a first email:
Subject: time-to-first-payroll
Hi Sam, saw Lumen is hiring four onboarding specialists, and your post
on cutting time-to-first-payroll.
Usually that means each new customer's setup is taking longer than
anyone wants. We helped a payroll company shorten setup without
adding headcount.
Worth 15 minutes to compare notes on how you're handling it?
Read it aloud before you send. If any line could go to 500 companies unchanged, swap it for a field from your notes or cut it.
Unused notes are fine. You researched the contact's tenure and the company's customers, but they're not in the email. They'll matter on the call. For more on the writing side, see our guide to personalized cold email.
How Much Research per Account
Not every account deserves the full template. Tier your list so effort matches the deal size, and decide the tier before you start researching.
- Tier 1: top targets. All ten fields, plus a look at the wider team. These are the accounts where one meeting changes your quarter.
- Tier 2: good fit. Fields 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9. About five minutes, enough for a specific opener and a real angle.
- Tier 3: volume. Fields 1, 3 and 9. A quick check for one trigger, then a segment-level message.
Move accounts up when they move. A tier 3 account that announces funding or posts five roles in your area becomes tier 1 that day. Our list of sales trigger events shows which changes deserve a promotion.
Keeping Research Notes Useful Across the Team
Research is only valuable if the next person can use it. A few habits keep notes alive after the first email.
- Store notes where outreach happens. Custom fields in your CRM or sequencer beat a separate doc nobody opens.
- Date every trigger. "Hiring 4 specialists (June)" tells the next rep whether it still counts.
- Hand off with the template. When an SDR books a meeting, the AE gets the same ten fields. For bigger deals, they expand them into an account research template.
- Review what worked. Once a month, compare the angles that got replies with the ones that didn't, and update your pain hypotheses.
Filling ten fields for 50 prospects a day is where SDR research usually breaks down. Edithly's prospect research reads each prospect's website and public signals and writes the outreach in the same step, with a personalization basis that lists the facts and sources it used, so you check the research instead of doing it from scratch.
How Edithly does it
Turn prospect research into outreach in three steps
Edithly does the research and the writing in one pass. It reads the prospect's website and public signals, then writes email angles with a personalization basis that lists every fact it used, with source links.
- 1
Click the Email Outreach tile
Open Home and pick Email Outreach. Your product's pitch, proof points and case studies are already in your playbook.
- 2
Enter the prospect's details
Add the company name and website, plus the contact's name and LinkedIn. Put anything you already found in Notes, such as a trigger or the angle you want.
- 3
Generate and copy
Click Generate email outreach. Check the personalization basis and sources, then copy the subject lines, body, follow-ups and LinkedIn note into your own sequencer.
Website
Ready
- Personalization basis
- Fact + source link
- Recent move
- Hiring signal
- Do not say
- By hand
- 10 to 20 minutes per prospect
- With Edithly
- A couple of minutes per prospect, sources included
Frequently asked questions
What should be included in a sales research template?
The fields that change your message: what the company does, who they sell to, a recent trigger, the contact's role and likely focus, a pain hypothesis, a proof point that matches, your angle, an opening line and a source link for every fact. Skip fields like founding year or office count unless they change what you'll say.
How long should an SDR spend researching each prospect?
It depends on the account's value. A common approach is tiering: a few minutes for high-volume accounts, around ten minutes for good-fit accounts, and longer for a short list of top targets. The test is simple: if extra research won't change the email, stop and send.
Where do SDRs find prospect information?
Mostly from free, public sources. The company website shows what they sell and to whom. The careers page shows hiring and tools. The newsroom shows launches and partnerships. The contact's LinkedIn shows role, tenure and posts. Your CRM shows past conversations. Paid tools add contact data and intent signals on top.
How do you turn prospect research into a personalized email?
Map each field to a line. The trigger becomes the opener, the pain hypothesis becomes the problem line, the proof point becomes the credibility line and the angle shapes the ask. Use one fact per line and cut the rest. Personalization works when it explains why you're writing, not when it lists everything you found.
Can Edithly fill in a sales research template for me?
It covers the same ground and goes straight to the outreach. Paste a prospect's website into Email Outreach and Edithly reads their business, then writes email angles with a personalization basis listing the facts it used, with source links. It does not provide contact emails or phone numbers; pair it with your contact data tool.