Research and list decision makers, contacts, and stakeholders for a specific account or company. Find names, emails, titles, reporting structure, and LinkedIn profiles. Identify the right people to reach out to based on persona and decision-making role. Trigger on: find contacts, prospect research, build contact list, who should I email, company research, stakeholder list.
Research target accounts and identify the right contacts to reach — by title, function, reporting structure, and decision-making role. Surfaces names, email addresses, LinkedIn profiles, job descriptions, and organizational hierarchy. Helps sales teams build a contact list before outreach and ensures you're talking to the right stakeholders, not just whoever answers the phone. Works from company research (LinkedIn, company websites, org charts) and available conversation data when you've already talked to people in similar accounts.
When to Use
Starting a new outbound campaign — need a list of 10 VPs of Sales at Series B–C SaaS companies
Building account strategy for a named account — need to understand the full buying committee
Prospecting a company after reading about them in news — need to identify the right decision maker
Filling gaps in your contact list — you have one contact but need 2–3 more at the same company
Validating a contact's actual role or reporting structure before personalizing outreach
Instructions
Related Skills
1. Define the target and research approach
Ask what the user is looking for:
What company/companies? Specific accounts or a type of company?
What role(s)? VP Sales, CFO, CTO, or all decision makers?
Decision-making criteria? Who needs to approve this deal, and in what order?
Contact info needed? Just email, or also LinkedIn URL, phone, reporting structure?
How many contacts? One champion, or the full buying committee?
If Harmony conversation data exists, pull:
Names and titles from past conversations in similar accounts
Reporting structure mentioned in calls
Which roles/functions have veto power or budget authority
Any naming patterns or org structure insights from successful deals
2. Research the company structure
For each target account:
Company size and structure — Industry, revenue, team count, geographic presence
Org chart and reporting lines — Who reports to whom, functional leadership
Public profiles — CEO, C-suite, publicly announced hires
Recent news — Funding rounds, product launches, new executives
Use LinkedIn, company websites, press releases, and web research.
3. Map buying committee roles
Identify contacts by function and decision-making role:
Executive sponsor — Who's most likely to advocate internally?
Budget holder — Who controls the approval and checkbook?
Technical gatekeeper — Who reviews vendor integration and security?
End user voice — Who uses the product day-to-day?
Procurement/Legal — Who needs to sign off on contracts?
Map each role to a specific person where possible.
4. Validate contact information
For each contact found:
Verify email address — Check company domain patterns, LinkedIn, or web research
Confirm title and role — Cross-reference LinkedIn, company directory, org announcements
Note reporting structure — Who do they report to (for context on decision path)?
Flag confidence level — High (verified on LinkedIn + company site), Medium (LinkedIn only), Low (inferred from company structure)
5. Identify gaps and prioritize outreach
Determine:
Which contacts are missing? Who haven't you found yet?
Which role is highest priority? Who should you reach out to first?
What's the decision path? In what order should you contact stakeholders?
Who's the most likely champion? Which contact most likely needs your solution?
6. Create contact output
Format as a ranked contact list with titles, emails, reporting structure, and reason for contacting each person.
Title: VP Finance
Function: Finance
Reports to: Janet Wu (CFO)
LinkedIn:https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchen-financeEmail:[email protected]Confidence: High (Verified on LinkedIn, company directory, recent hire announcement)
Why contact them:
Decision role: Budget decision maker + likely champion (new to company, will want to implement own processes)
Key concern likely: Standardizing expense processes as company scales; integrating with existing financial systems
Winning proof: "Replaced 3 manual expense tools with one platform" + time savings proof
Decision role: Process owner, end user of expense management workflow
Key concern likely: Adoption risk (will ops team actually use it?), training burden, integration with existing tools
Winning proof: "Teams were using it within 2 weeks" + ease-of-use metrics
Janet Wu
Title: Chief Financial Officer
Function: Finance
Reports to: CEO
LinkedIn:https://linkedin.com/in/janetw-cfoEmail:[email protected]Confidence: High (Verified on LinkedIn, company press releases)
Why contact them:
Decision role: Final approval on vendor spending
Key concern likely: Cost vs. benefit, vendor risk, contract terms, integration with Workday/NetSuite
Winning proof: ROI calculation + security/compliance certifications
David Park
Title: VP Engineering
Function: Engineering / Tech
Reports to: CTO
LinkedIn:https://linkedin.com/in/davidpark-engEmail:[email protected]Confidence: Medium (LinkedIn verified, but not directly involved in expense tool decision)
Why contact them:
Key concern likely: "Will this break our existing integrations with Workday/NetSuite?" — they recently announced JPMorgan partnership so integration is critical
Winning proof: "RESTful API" + documented integration examples + case studies with fintech
Priya Sharma
Title: Manager, Finance Operations
Function: Finance / Finance Operations
Reports to: Sarah Chen (VP Finance)
LinkedIn:https://linkedin.com/in/priyasharma-finopsEmail:[email protected]Confidence: High (Found on LinkedIn, likely manages day-to-day expense process)
Why contact them:
Decision role: End user voice (will use the tool 50+ hours/month)
Key concern likely: Will this actually save us time, or add another tool to log into?
Winning proof: "Automated 70% of expense categorization" + "Syncs directly to accounting system"
Buying Committee Map
Decision Path:
Sarah Chen (VP Finance, Budget) → Owns the decision and budget
Janet Wu (CFO, Final approval) → Must sign off on vendor + contract
Marcus Johnson (VP Ops, Process) → Must confirm it fits workflow
David Park (VP Eng, Technical) → Must confirm it integrates cleanly
Champion prospect: Sarah Chen — She's new to Vertex, will want to implement her own expense processes, and has authority to move fast without waiting for Janet's approval on small purchases.
Veto risk: David Park — If the integration with their Workday/NetSuite is messy, he'll block it. Also Janet Wu is a wildcard — depends on her risk tolerance with new vendors.
Gaps & Research Notes
Gap
Why It Matters
How to Fill
Confidence
Exact email for David Park
Cold email
Verify through company directory or LinkedIn
Next week
Priya Sharma's LinkedIn profile
Understand her background
LinkedIn URL might be misspelled
Next week
Who's the CFO's chief of staff?
They might control meeting access
Call Sarah and ask
After first conversation
Research quality notes:
Email addresses verified via company domain (vertex.io) and LinkedIn company directory — confidence is HIGH for all
Org chart sourced from LinkedIn company page and 2 company blog posts (Jan 2026 hire announcement) — current as of March 2026
David Park confirmed as VP Engineering from LinkedIn; CTO name not yet confirmed (noted as "CTO" but not found in public profiles)
Priya Sharma is inferred from LinkedIn company page; exact role/reporting may differ slightly but "Finance Operations" is likely
Outreach Strategy
Recommended order:
Sarah Chen (VP Finance) — First. She's new, has budget authority, and is your most likely champion. Lead with: "I noticed you just joined Vertex as VP Finance. A lot of finance leaders in scale-up mode struggle with expense management as headcount grows. Curious if that's on your list."
Priya Sharma (Finance Ops Manager) — Second (warm intro from Sarah if possible). She's the power user, will validate process fit, and can influence Sarah if she loves it.
Marcus Johnson (VP Ops) — Third. You need his buy-in on the process change. Lead with: "Expense processing impacts your ops team. Want to sync before we move forward?"
David Park (VP Eng) — Fourth. Technical validation (once Ops is aligned). Lead with: "We integrate RESTful with Workday/NetSuite. Let me show you the API docs and existing integrations."
Janet Wu (CFO) — Last. Once you have Sarah, Priya, Marcus, and David aligned, Janet's approval is formality (if CFO trust of VP Finance is high).
Key questions for Sarah (first call):
"What's your #1 priority as the new VP Finance here at Vertex?"
"How are expenses being managed today? What's working, what's not?"
"If you could fix one process this quarter, what would it be?"
"Walk me through who needs to approve a new vendor — just you, or does Janet also sign off?"
Edge Cases
Couldn't find email addresses: Note confidence level as "Low" and recommend verifying on first call or through LinkedIn message. Never cold email an unverified address.
Company has very flat structure: All roles report to CEO; no clear hierarchy. Note this and recommend starting with whoever has operational responsibility for the problem (finance manager for expense management).
Key contact just left the company: Flag the gap, note when they left, and identify who took over their responsibilities.
Company information is 6+ months old: Note the research date; recommend refreshing org chart before major outreach (call the receptionist or use LinkedIn).
Contact is at an unreachable level (CEO): Identify who reports to CEO and start there; use CEO for warm intro only after building relationship below.
Can't identify all decision roles: Recommend starting with whoever owns the problem area (e.g., VP Finance for expense management) and asking "Walk me through your buying process."