Account Research Template for Consulting Teams

Account research helps a consulting team understand a company well enough to decide whom to contact, why a conversation could be useful and what still needs checking. A usable brief connects source evidence to the firm's specific service and relationship history, then names a next action.

Use the template below to turn sales research into a brief for an introductory call, a conversation with a past client or a discussion about new work. You can complete it in a document or add the fields to your existing account records.

Start with the decision you need to make. Research for an introduction needs different detail from research for a proposal. When that decision is unclear, even a well-sourced company profile can leave the partner wondering what to do with it.

Jump to the blank brief, worked example, source check or handoff.

Copy the account research template

Keep the initial brief short enough to review before the conversation. Put supporting material behind source links, and write “unknown” when the evidence doesn't answer a question.

Account and exact company identity:
Research question or upcoming conversation:
Our relevant service:

What changed or prompted this research:
Source, supporting passage and publication date:
Event date, if different:
Why this could matter to the company:
What connects it to our service:

Relevant person and verified role:
Prior relationship and last meaningful contact:
Possible introduction route and confirmation needed:

Known project, buying role and timing:
Unanswered questions:
Evidence against pursuing this opportunity:

Recommended next action:
Person responsible and review date:

The recommendation can be a discovery question, a request to confirm an introduction or a decision to wait. Completing the brief doesn't oblige anyone to send a message.

This structure draws on our research conversations with consultants and other advisory teams. Practitioners described useful research that still required them to verify claims, recover relationship context and choose an action. The worksheet is our proposed way to make that remaining work visible; we haven't measured a conversion lift from using it.

Decide what belongs in the brief

Name your relevant service before collecting news. An acquisition matters differently to a diligence advisor, an integration specialist and a leadership coach. Write the part of the situation your firm can help with, then look for evidence that this company faces it.

If your opening question is “Could our integration work be relevant here?”, a general company history deserves little space. Details about the integration timetable, operating structure and responsible team deserve more. The sales trigger events guide explains how timing changes the interpretation of an announcement.

Keep facts separate from your reading of them. A new executive appointment establishes a personnel change. Your belief that it might lead to an operating review is an interpretation. Whether the executive has a project or budget for outside advice remains a question.

Include the relationship the team actually has. Record the last meaningful interaction and who remembers it. A contact in a database may be a former client, a person met once or someone nobody on the team recognizes. Give the partner enough information to choose an appropriate approach.

Public sources won't establish every buying condition. A company can fit your sector and size criteria while the relevant purchasing responsibility sits elsewhere. For the questions to resolve through discovery, use the lead qualification checklist.

A worked example: reviewing a leadership change

The following example is illustrative. The company, source material and proposed messages are fictional, created to show how the review works.

Suppose your firm advises distributors on operating processes. You notice that a regional distributor has appointed a chief operating officer. Your colleague met the incoming executive at an industry event last year.

An initial brief says:

New COO means an operating transformation is starting. They have budget and need external help. Ask our colleague to introduce us for a proposal discussion.

The conclusion goes beyond the information available. Review each part before using it.

The reviewed brief still contains a possible opportunity. It gives the colleague a reasonable question rather than asking them to endorse a sales assumption.

If the colleague confirms the relationship and offers an introduction, a suitable opening could be: “Congratulations on the new role. Are operating processes part of your early priorities, or is your attention elsewhere?” That question leaves room for the answer to change your plan.

Check the source behind the claim

For every material factual claim, open the underlying source and find the passage that supports it. Check the exact company, the event date and the scope of the statement. An article about a subsidiary may not describe the parent company, and a current search result may lead to an old announcement.

Save enough detail that the reviewer can check the passage without repeating your search. For a company announcement, that might be the URL, publication date and the relevant sentence. For an internal conversation, record the date and who can confirm the note, within the access rules your team uses.

Then test the inference. What does the source establish? What have you added? Which missing fact could change the next action?

AI can help assemble and organize client research, but a citation doesn't settle those questions by itself. Keep unsupported conclusions out of the factual fields, even when the generated paragraph sounds persuasive.

Finish with an action someone can own

A brief is ready when its reviewer can understand the proposed move and the uncertainty around it. Before handing it over, check that the action has an owner, the sources are accessible and any relationship request respects the contact's wishes.

You don't need to resolve the entire sale before making contact. You do need enough evidence to explain why a conversation could be relevant without pretending to know the buyer's priorities.

Key Accounts brings account research and related context together in alkemy. You can also use this brief in your existing documents. Start with one account your team already plans to discuss, and see which fields change the next question you ask.