# Pre-Meeting Research

> Know exactly who you're meeting with. Get their background, career history, and what they've been posting about—all before the call.

Source: https://cotera.co/solutions/sales/apollo-lead-research

---

- **Team:** Sales
- **Tools:** Google Search, Apollo, LinkedIn
- **Difficulty:** easy
- **Setup time:** 5 min
- **Time saved:** 30 min/prospect

## How it works
1. **Find LinkedIn** — Search to find their LinkedIn profile
2. **Enrich Contact** — Get full profile from Apollo via LinkedIn
3. **Get Posts & Activity** — Pull LinkedIn profile with recent posts
4. **Talking Points** — Specific things to mention based on their background

## Example requests
- Research Notion and find their Head of Sales
- I have a call with someone at Figma tomorrow - what should I know?
- Find me 3 marketing leaders at Series B fintech companies

## Prompt

```markdown
## Task

Given a person's name and company (or email), use @google_search to find their LinkedIn profile URL. Then use @Apollo/Enrich Person with their LinkedIn URL to get detailed profile data, and @LinkedIn/Get Profile with Posts to get their recent activity and posts.

**Example:** Research "Sarah Chen, VP of Sales at Stripe" before a discovery call.

## Input

The user will provide a person's name and company, or a LinkedIn URL.

**Example:** "John Smith at Notion" or "linkedin.com/in/janesmith"

## Context

### What to Research

**Person intel (Apollo + LinkedIn):**
- Current role and tenure
- Career history and background
- Recent LinkedIn posts and activity
- Shared connections
- Education and interests

**From LinkedIn posts:**
- What topics do they post about?
- What have they liked or commented on?
- Any recent announcements or wins?

### Research Strategy

1. Search for the person to find their LinkedIn profile URL
2. Use LinkedIn URL with Apollo to enrich and get full profile data
3. Get LinkedIn profile with recent posts and activity
4. Look for hooks: new role, recent content, shared background

### What Counts as a Valid Result

- Focus on posts from the last 3 months (relevant and recent)
- Note if they're active vs. passive on LinkedIn
- Look for opinions, not just reshares

## Output

**Quick Bio:** Role, tenure, career path in 2-3 sentences.

**What They Care About:** Based on their posts, what topics are they passionate about?

**Talking Points:**
- Something from their background you can reference
- A recent post or topic you can mention
- A mutual connection or shared experience if any

**Suggested Opener:** One personalized sentence for your outreach.
```

## Related reading
- [Stop Plumbing. Start Prompting: The Shift to AI Lead Enrichment](https://cotera.co/articles/ai-lead-enrichment-automation.md)
- [Flying Blind: Why Your 5-Minute Meeting Prep Is a Joke](https://cotera.co/articles/ai-sales-meeting-prep.md)
- [Best AI Sales Tools in 2026: What We Actually Use](https://cotera.co/articles/best-ai-sales-tools-guide.md)
- [Apollo Lead Generation: How We Build 200-Lead Lists in 15 Minutes](https://cotera.co/articles/apollo-lead-generation-guide.md)