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How to Automate Lead Research with Claude Code [Step-by-Step Tutorial]

· 6 min read

The average SDR spends 6 hours per week researching prospects. That's 6 hours of:

  • Googling company names
  • Scanning LinkedIn profiles
  • Reading news articles
  • Looking for pain points to reference

What if you could do all that in 30 seconds?

Claude Code—Anthropic's AI with tool use and code execution—can turn a prospect name into a complete research brief automatically. Here's exactly how to set it up.

Claude Code researching prospects from multiple data sources

What Good Lead Research Actually Looks Like​

Before we automate, let's define what we're building. A great prospect brief includes:

  1. Company Overview: What they do, company size, industry
  2. Recent News: Funding, product launches, leadership changes
  3. Tech Stack: What tools they already use (if visible)
  4. Pain Point Signals: Job postings, complaints, market trends
  5. Personalization Hooks: Specific details for your outreach

This used to take 10-15 minutes per prospect. Now it takes seconds.

The Claude Code Approach​

Claude Code can:

  • Execute searches and aggregate results
  • Read web pages and extract key information
  • Structure unstructured data into useful formats
  • Reason about what matters for your use case

Here's a prompt template that generates complete prospect briefs:

Research this company for a B2B sales outreach:

**Company:** {{company_name}}
**Our Product:** AI-powered SDR platform that turns intent signals into pipeline

**Create a prospect brief with:**

1. **Company Overview**
   - What they do (one sentence)
   - Employee count and headquarters
   - Industry and target market

2. **Recent Activity (Last 6 Months)**
   - Funding or acquisitions
   - Product launches
   - Leadership changes
   - Press coverage

3. **Sales-Relevant Signals**
   - Are they hiring for SDRs, sales ops, or demand gen?
   - Any complaints about lead quality or outbound efficiency?
   - What CRM/sales stack do they use? (check job postings)

4. **Personalization Hooks**
   - 3 specific details I can reference in an email
   - Potential pain points based on their situation
   - Suggested angle for outreach

5. **Recommended Next Step**
   - Best channel to reach them (email, LinkedIn, phone)
   - Suggested first message angle

Be specific. Use actual data, not generic statements.

Setting Up Automated Research​

Option 1: OpenClaw + Claude (Always-On)​

If you want research to run automatically when new leads come in:

# OpenClaw config
cron:
  jobs:
    - name: "New Lead Research"
      schedule:
        kind: every
        everyMs: 900000  # Every 15 minutes
      payload:
        kind: agentTurn
        message: |
          Check HubSpot for contacts added in the last 15 minutes.
          For each new contact, create a prospect brief and add it
          to the contact notes field.

This runs in the background, enriching leads as they arrive.

Option 2: Claude Code CLI (On-Demand)​

For manual research when you need it:

# Install Claude Code
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Run research
claude-code research "Acme Corp"

Option 3: VS Code Extension​

If you work in VS Code, Claude Code integrates directly:

  1. Highlight a company name
  2. Cmd+Shift+P → "Claude: Research Prospect"
  3. Get a brief in your sidebar

Lead research funnel: Raw data to enriched profile

Real Research Output Example​

Here's what Claude Code actually produces for a real company:

Company: Hologram (hologram.io)

Overview: IoT connectivity platform providing global cellular for devices. ~150 employees, HQ in Chicago. Series B ($65M from Battery Ventures).

Recent Activity:

  • Feb 2026: Launched Hyper network for low-latency IoT
  • Jan 2026: Partnership with AWS IoT Core announced
  • Hiring: 3 open SDR roles, 2 demand gen positions

Sales Signals:

  • Job posting mentions "scaling outbound motion" and "improving lead quality"
  • Uses HubSpot (seen in job req), Outreach for sequences
  • Active on G2 responding to reviews (cares about buyer perception)

Personalization Hooks:

  1. Reference the Hyper launch: "Saw the Hyper network announcement—congrats"
  2. Note the hiring push: "Looks like you're scaling the SDR team"
  3. Connect to IoT/connectivity angle: "We work with several IoT companies..."

Recommended Approach: LinkedIn → Email sequence. Their team is active on LinkedIn. Reference specific content they've posted.

This took 15 seconds to generate. A human would need 10-15 minutes minimum.

Enrichment Sources Claude Code Can Access​

When you give Claude Code research tasks, it can pull from:

SourceWhat It Finds
Company websiteProducts, pricing, team page
LinkedInEmployee count, org structure, recent posts
Job boardsHiring signals, tech stack clues
News sitesFunding, partnerships, launches
G2/CapterraReviews, complaints, competitor comparisons
CrunchbaseFunding history, investors, competitors

The key is structuring your prompt to tell Claude what matters for your specific outreach.

Advanced: Building a Research Pipeline​

For high-volume prospecting, build a full pipeline:

[New Lead] 
    ↓
[Basic Enrichment] 
    - Company size, industry
    - Contact title, seniority
    ↓
[ICP Scoring]
    - Match against ideal customer profile
    - Score 1-100
    ↓
[Deep Research] (if score > 70)
    - Full prospect brief
    - Personalization hooks
    ↓
[Routing]
    - Hot leads → Slack alert + call queue
    - Warm leads → Automated sequence
    - Cold leads → Nurture list

Each step can be automated with Claude Code + OpenClaw.

Common Mistakes to Avoid​

1. Researching Every Lead Equally

Not every lead deserves 10 minutes of research. Use basic enrichment to score first, then deep-dive on high-potential prospects only.

2. Ignoring Negative Signals

Good research includes disqualifying information. If a company just laid off their sales team, that's important context.

3. Stale Data

Information decays. Set up refresh cycles for long-nurture prospects.

4. Over-Personalizing

Mentioning 5 specific details in an email feels creepy. Pick the ONE most relevant hook.

Measuring Research Quality​

Track these metrics:

  • Time per lead: Should drop from 10-15 min to under 1 min
  • Reply rates: Better research → better personalization → higher replies
  • Qualification accuracy: Are AI-scored leads actually converting?
  • Rep adoption: Is your team actually using the briefs?

The MarketBetter Advantage​

MarketBetter does this automatically for every website visitor:

  1. Identify: Know which companies visit your site
  2. Enrich: Pull firmographic and technographic data
  3. Research: AI generates prospect briefs
  4. Prioritize: Score and route to the right rep
  5. Act: Get a daily playbook of exactly who to contact

No manual research required. No copy-pasting between tools.

Ready to automate your lead research? See how MarketBetter turns visitor identification into actionable prospect intelligence. Book a demo.