Leads Researcher

Leads Researcher

Overview

Research leads by gathering company information, discovering contact details, and identifying buyer intent signals. Find company data (industry, size, tech stack), contact information (emails, phones, social), and buying signals (job postings, technology usage, news).

When to Use This Skill

• Research companies or prospects
• Find company information (industry, size, location)
• Discover contact information (emails, phone numbers)
• Identify buyer intent signals
• Enrich lead data
• Find decision makers at companies
• Research tech stack or technology usage

Project Context Discovery

1. Check for existing lead research tools or processes 2. Review data sources and APIs in use 3. Look for lead data schemas 4. Check for compliance/privacy requirements

Research Workflows

1. Company Information

• Company name and legal name
• Industry and vertical
• Employee count and revenue
• Headquarters location
• Website and social profiles
• Technology stack
• Recent news or funding

2. Contact Discovery

Key Contacts to Find:

• CEO/Founder
• CTO/Technical decision makers
• Head of Sales/Marketing
• Department heads
• Procurement/Finance contacts

3. Buyer Intent Signals

• Job Postings: Hiring for relevant roles
• Technology Usage: Tools on website/job posts
• Company News: Funding, acquisitions, expansion
• Online Behavior: Website visits, content downloads

Data Sources

Company Data: Clearbit, ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Crunchbase, LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Contact Discovery: Hunter.io, RocketReach, Lusha

Intent Signals: Job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed), BuiltWith, News API

Best Practices

• Comply with GDPR, CCPA, privacy regulations
• Verify information from multiple sources
• Use APIs to automate data gathering
• Always verify contact information
• Develop consistent intent scoring methodology

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For complete API implementation examples, research methodology details, data source specifics, buyer intent scoring code, and example user requests, see: references/full-guide.md

Leads Researcher - Full Guide

Research Workflows

1. Company Information Research

Research basic company information including industry, size, location, and technology stack.

Key Information to Gather:

• Company name and legal name
• Industry and vertical
• Company size (employee count)
• Annual revenue (if available)
• Headquarters location
• Website and social media profiles
• Technology stack and tools used
• Recent news or funding

Research Methodology:

1. Start with Company Website:

• Review "About Us" page
• Check careers page for company size indicators
• Look for technology stack on job postings
• Note headquarters location

2. Use Company Data APIs:

• Clearbit Enrichment API
• ZoomInfo API
• Apollo.io API
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Crunchbase API

3. Cross-reference Multiple Sources:

• Verify information across sources
• Check for inconsistencies
• Update outdated information
• Flag data quality issues

Example Implementation:

// Research company information
async function researchCompany(companyName: string, domain?: string) {
  const results = {
    name: companyName,
    domain: domain || "",
    industry: "",
    size: "",
    location: "",
    revenue: "",
    techStack: [],
    linkedIn: "",
    crunchbase: "",
  };

  // Use Clearbit Enrichment API
  if (domain) {
    const clearbitResponse = await fetch(
      `https://company.clearbit.com/v2/companies/find?domain=${domain}`,
      {
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CLEARBIT_API_KEY}`,
        },
      }
    );

    if (clearbitResponse.ok) {
      const data = await clearbitResponse.json();
      results.industry = data.category?.industry || "";
      results.size = `${data.metrics?.employees || "Unknown"} employees`;
      results.location = data.geo?.city || "";
      results.linkedIn = data.linkedin?.handle || "";
    }
  }

  return results;
}

2. Contact Information Discovery

Find email addresses, phone numbers, and social media profiles for decision makers and key contacts.

Key Contacts to Find:

• CEO/Founder
• CTO/Technical decision makers
• Head of Sales/Marketing
• Department heads relevant to your product
• Procurement/Finance contacts

Research Methodology:

1. Start with LinkedIn:

• Search for company employees
• Filter by job title and department
• Note profile information
• Check for email in profile

2. Use Contact Discovery Tools:

• Apollo.io - Contact database and email finder
• Hunter.io - Email finder and verifier
• RocketReach - Contact discovery
• Lusha - Contact data enrichment
• ZoomInfo - B2B contact database

3. Verify Contact Information:

• Verify email addresses before use
• Check phone number validity
• Verify social media profiles
• Cross-reference multiple sources

Example Implementation:

// Find contacts at a company
async function findContacts(companyDomain: string, jobTitle?: string) {
  const contacts = [];

  // Use Hunter.io to find emails
  const hunterResponse = await fetch(
    `https://api.hunter.io/v2/domain-search?domain=${companyDomain}&api_key=${process.env.HUNTER_API_KEY}`
  );

  if (hunterResponse.ok) {
    const data = await hunterResponse.json();
    contacts.push(
      ...data.data.emails.map((email: any) => ({
        firstName: email.first_name,
        lastName: email.last_name,
        email: email.value,
        position: email.position,
        linkedIn: email.linkedin,
        confidence: email.confidence,
      }))
    );
  }

  // Filter by job title if provided
  if (jobTitle) {
    return contacts.filter((contact) =>
      contact.position?.toLowerCase().includes(jobTitle.toLowerCase())
    );
  }

  return contacts;
}

// Verify email address
async function verifyEmail(email: string): Promise<boolean> {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.hunter.io/v2/email-verifier?email=${email}&api_key=${process.env.HUNTER_API_KEY}`
  );

  if (response.ok) {
    const data = await response.json();
    return data.data.result === "deliverable";
  }

  return false;
}

3. Buyer Intent Signals

Identify signals that indicate a company is actively looking to purchase solutions.

Buyer Intent Signals:

1. Job Postings:

• Hiring for roles related to your solution
• Job descriptions mentioning tools you replace
• New departments or teams being formed
• Technology-focused hiring

2. Technology Usage:

• Tools listed on company website
• Technology mentioned in job postings
• Stack Overflow/GitHub activity
• App usage data (if available)

3. Company News:

• Funding rounds (indicates growth/budget)
• Acquisitions or mergers
• New product launches
• Leadership changes
• Expansion announcements

4. Online Behavior:

• Website visits to competitor pages
• Content downloads (if tracked)
• Webinar attendance
• Social media engagement

Research Methodology:

// Identify buyer intent signals
async function identifyBuyerIntent(companyName: string, domain: string) {
  const signals = {
    jobPostings: [],
    technologyStack: [],
    recentNews: [],
    funding: null,
    expansion: false,
    score: 0, // Intent score 0-100
  };

  // Check job postings
  const jobs = await searchJobPostings(companyName);
  signals.jobPostings = jobs.filter((job) =>
    job.description.includes("your-solution-keywords")
  );

  if (signals.jobPostings.length > 0) {
    signals.score += 30;
  }

  // Check technology stack
  const techStack = await researchTechStack(domain);
  signals.technologyStack = techStack;

  // Check if they use competitor tools
  const competitorTools = ["competitor-tool-1", "competitor-tool-2"];
  const usesCompetitor = techStack.some((tech) =>
    competitorTools.includes(tech)
  );

  if (usesCompetitor) {
    signals.score += 25;
  }

  // Check recent news and funding
  const news = await searchCompanyNews(companyName);
  signals.recentNews = news;

  const hasFunding = news.some(
    (item) =>
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("funding") ||
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("raised")
  );

  if (hasFunding) {
    signals.score += 20;
    signals.funding = news.find((item) =>
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("funding")
    );
  }

  // Check for expansion signals
  const hasExpansion = news.some(
    (item) =>
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("expansion") ||
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("opening") ||
      item.title.toLowerCase().includes("hiring")
  );

  if (hasExpansion) {
    signals.expansion = true;
    signals.score += 25;
  }

  return signals;
}

Data Sources and APIs

Company Data APIs

Clearbit Enrichment:

• Company and domain enrichment
• Employee count, revenue, industry
• Technology stack
• Social media profiles

ZoomInfo:

• Comprehensive B2B database
• Company information
• Contact data
• Intent signals

Apollo.io:

• Company and contact database
• Email finder
• Intent data
• Technology tracking

Crunchbase:

• Company funding information
• Investor data
• Acquisition data
• Company profiles

LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

• Professional contacts
• Company information
• Employee data
• Sales insights

Contact Discovery APIs

Hunter.io:

• Email finder and verifier
• Domain search
• Email verification

RocketReach:

• Contact discovery
• Email and phone finder
• Social profile links

Lusha:

• Contact data enrichment
• Email and phone numbers
• Company information

Intent Signal Sources

Job Postings:

• LinkedIn Jobs API
• Indeed API
• Glassdoor API
• Company careers pages

Technology Stack:

• BuiltWith API
• Wappalyzer
• StackShare
• GitHub

News and Funding:

• News API
• Crunchbase API
• Google News
• Company blogs

Best Practices

Data Privacy and Compliance

• Comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations
• Obtain consent before contacting leads
• Respect opt-out requests
• Handle personal data securely
• Implement data retention policies

Data Quality

• Verify information from multiple sources
• Cross-reference data for accuracy
• Flag outdated or unverified data
• Implement data validation rules
• Regularly update lead information

Research Efficiency

• Use APIs to automate data gathering
• Cache frequently accessed data
• Batch requests when possible
• Implement rate limiting
• Use webhooks for real-time updates

Source Verification

• Always verify contact information
• Check email deliverability
• Validate phone numbers
• Verify company information
• Cross-reference multiple sources

Buyer Intent Scoring

• Develop consistent scoring methodology
• Weight different signals appropriately
• Update scoring based on results
• Track which signals correlate with conversions
• Refine intent detection over time

Example User Requests

Example 1: "Research company information for Acme Corp"

• Gather basic company data (industry, size, location)
• Find company website and social profiles
• Research technology stack
• Check for recent news or funding
• Compile comprehensive company profile

Example 2: "Find email addresses for decision makers at tech companies"

• Identify target companies
• Find contacts with relevant job titles
• Discover email addresses using APIs
• Verify email addresses
• Compile contact list with metadata

Example 3: "Identify companies with buyer intent for our solution"

• Search for job postings indicating need
• Check technology stack for competitors
• Look for funding or growth signals
• Calculate intent scores
• Generate prioritized lead list

Example 4: "Enrich existing lead data with additional information"

• Match leads to company records
• Fill in missing company data
• Find additional contacts
• Add intent signals
• Update lead records with enriched data