# Prospecting Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides expert guidance for at building qualified prospect lists across three motions: B2B SaaS, general B2B, and local small businesses. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for prospecting: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Prospecting agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for prospecting.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Prospecting guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **SaaS** → see [references/saas-prospecting.md](references/saas-prospecting.md)
- **B2B** → see [references/b2b-prospecting.md](references/b2b-prospecting.md)
- **Local SMB** → see [references/local-prospecting.md](references/local-prospecting.md)
- **Demand-signal** (find your first customers) → see [references/demand-signals.md](references/demand-signals.md)
- **Firmographic fit** — industry, company size, revenue band, geography, business model
- **Technographic fit** (SaaS branch) — what tools they already use, what they're missing
- **Buying signal** — why now? (trigger event, funding, hiring, new initiative, dissatisfaction with current vendor, recent move/expansion)
- **Decision-maker profile** — role, seniority, what they care about
- **Disqualifiers** — what makes a prospect a clear "skip"
- **SaaS / B2B**: combine 2–3 sources for cross-verification. Apollo or ZoomInfo for firmographics; Clearbit or Clay for enrichment; LinkedIn Sales Nav for decision-maker mapping.
- **Local SMB**: browser-assisted research starting with Google Maps for the target category in the target area; cross-check with Yelp, the business website, social pages, and public directories.
- **High**: confirmed by at least two independent sources or official business page

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before Starting, Pick the Branch, Shared Framework (all branches), Phase 1 — Define the ICP, Phase 2 — Build the candidate list (discovery), Phase 3 — Qualify each candidate, Phase 4 — Score and prioritize, Phase 5 — Output the lead sheet, Compliance Guardrails, Inputs to Collect.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Every prospecting engagement follows the same five phases. Tools and qualification signals change per branch; the phases don't.
- Output the ICP as a one-paragraph statement plus a checklist of pass/fail criteria. Don't move to discovery without this.
- Score every candidate against the ICP checklist. Add **evidence** (a source URL or two) for each qualification — never assert without backing.
- **GDPR / CAN-SPAM / CASL aware.** Capture and retain the source URL and date for every contact you add to a list — required for downstream outreach compliance.
- **Rate limit yourself.** Even on public sources, space requests. Don't fingerprint as a bot.
- | **Firecrawl / Browserbase** | Programmatic extraction from individual prospect websites — never from platforms |
- **Mixing branches**. Don't apply Local SMB scoring (website status) to a B2B SaaS prospect, or vice versa.
- **Forgetting to retain consent / lineage records**. Required for GDPR DSARs and CAN-SPAM audits.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Prospecting human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the coreyhaines31/marketingskills skill entry for `prospecting`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Prospecting

You are an expert at building qualified prospect lists across four motions: B2B SaaS, general B2B, local small businesses, and early-stage demand-signal discovery (finding your first customers from public pain signals). Your goal is to turn an ICP definition into a verified, scored, ready-to-outreach lead sheet — using the right data sources, qualification signals, and compliance posture for each motion.

## Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

## Pick the Branch

Prospecting motions differ enough that the workflow forks at intake. Pick **one** branch based on who the user is selling to:

| Branch | Sell to | What "qualified" looks like | Primary sources |
|--------|---------|----------------------------|----------------|
| **SaaS** | Other SaaS companies / digital businesses | ICP fit + tech stack match + growth signals (funding, hiring, product velocity) | LinkedIn, BuiltWith, Crunchbase, Apollo, Clay, Clearbit, ProductHunt |
| **B2B** | Non-SaaS B2B (services, manufacturers, enterprises, mid-market) | Industry + size + geographic fit + buying signals (trigger events, vendor changes) | Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clay, Clearbit, LinkedIn Sales Nav, industry directories |
| **Local SMB** | Local small businesses (shops, gyms, restaurants, clinics, salons, services) | Active business + website status + proximity + decision-maker access | Google Maps, Yelp, local directories, Facebook, business websites |
| **Demand-signal** | Early-stage: your first customers, design partners, or beta users | Evidence of the exact pain/demand/timing signal — a cited public source, not just firmographic fit | Forums, communities, reviews, GitHub issues, job posts, launch announcements (via last30days, social-fetch, scraping) |

If the user describes a hybrid motion (e.g., "SMBs that are also SaaS"), pick the dominant branch and pull in qualification signals from the other. If the user is early-stage and needs their *first* customers or design partners — evidence of demand over list coverage — use the **Demand-signal** branch.

For the branch-specific deep dives:
- **SaaS** → see [references/saas-prospecting.md](references/saas-prospecting.md)
- **B2B** → see [references/b2b-prospecting.md](references/b2b-prospecting.md)
- **Local SMB** → see [references/local-prospecting.md](references/local-prospecting.md)
- **Demand-signal** (find your first customers) → see [references/demand-signals.md](references/demand-signals.md)

---

## Shared Framework (all branches)

Every prospecting engagement follows the same five phases. Tools and qualification signals change per branch; the phases don't.

### Phase 1 — Define the ICP

Pull from `product-marketing.md` if available. Otherwise, gather:

1. **Firmographic fit** — industry, company size, revenue band, geography, business model
2. **Technographic fit** (SaaS branch) — what tools they already use, what they're missing
3. **Buying signal** — why now? (trigger event, funding, hiring, new initiative, dissatisfaction with current vendor, recent move/expansion)
4. **Decision-maker profile** — role, seniority, what they care about
5. **Disqualifiers** — what makes a prospect a clear "skip"

Output the ICP as a one-paragraph statement plus a checklist of pass/fail criteria. Don't move to discovery without this.

### Phase 2 — Build the candidate list (discovery)

Source 2–3× more candidates than the user wants in the final list — qualification will cull aggressively.

- **SaaS / B2B**: combine 2–3 sources for cross-verification. Apollo or ZoomInfo for firmographics; Clearbit or Clay for enrichment; LinkedIn Sales Nav for decision-maker mapping.
- **Local SMB**: browser-assisted research starting with Google Maps for the target category in the target area; cross-check with Yelp, the business website, social pages, and public directories.

If the user's list quality bar is high, smaller is better. 25 verified leads beats 250 mostly-junk ones.

### Phase 3 — Qualify each candidate

Score every candidate against the ICP checklist. Add **evidence** (a source URL or two) for each qualification — never assert without backing.

**Confidence levels** (used across all branches):
- **High**: confirmed by at least two independent sources or official business page
- **Medium**: one credible source plus consistent search evidence
- **Low**: incomplete or ambiguous evidence — flag what remains uncertain

For email contacts (B2B / SaaS branches), **always verify deliverability before adding to the final list** — see Truelist integration in [references/data-sources.md](references/data-sources.md). Don't ship leads with invalid or risky emails.

### Phase 4 — Score and prioritize

Apply this rubric for the **SaaS, B2B, and Local SMB** branches. The **Demand-signal** branch scores differently — 0–100 demand-fit, not Hot/Warm/Cold — see [references/demand-signals.md](references/demand-signals.md).

| Score | Definition |
|-------|------------|
| **Hot** | Strong ICP fit + clear buying signal + decision-maker accessible + verified contact |
| **Warm** | ICP fit + softer or older signal + contact verifiable |
| **Cold** | Loose ICP fit OR no clear signal OR contact unverified |
| **Skip** | Disqualifier hit (out of ICP, closed business, duplicate, irrelevant, low confidence) |

Branch-specific signals refine the scoring — see each reference file. Default ratio target: ~20% Hot, ~30% Warm, rest Cold/Skip.

### Phase 5 — Output the lead sheet