Why Agencies Struggle with Prospect Research
According to HubSpot's State of Marketing Report, agencies spend 40% of business development time on research and preparation. A Promethean Research study found that agencies win 23% more pitches when they demonstrate deep prospect knowledge. Yet most agencies rush research because time spent researching isn't billable.
The result: generic pitches that fail to connect. Prospects hear the same capabilities deck from every agency. The ones that win show they understand the specific business, its challenges, and where marketing can move the needle.
How Agencies Automate Account Research with AI
When agencies automate account research, every pitch gets the preparation it deserves. Here's the workflow with Miniloop:
- Add prospect to pipeline - New opportunity enters your CRM or spreadsheet
- AI researches the company - Website audit, social presence, ad spend analysis, tech stack
- AI identifies decision makers - Marketing leadership, CMO, VP Marketing, brand managers
- Research brief delivered - Competitive analysis and pitch angles ready before your meeting
"We used to wing pitches because research took too long. Now every prospect gets 2 hours of research done in 5 minutes. Our close rate jumped from 18% to 31%." ā New business director, 25-person digital agency
Agencies using automated research report winning 25-40% more pitches without increasing BD headcount.
What Makes Agency Research Different
Agencies need marketing-specific intelligence that generic sales research doesn't provide:
| Agency Need | What AI Provides |
|---|---|
| Marketing audit | Website performance, SEO gaps, social engagement, ad creative analysis |
| Competitive landscape | What competitors are doing, share of voice, positioning gaps |
| Budget signals | Hiring patterns, ad spend estimates, agency relationship history |
| Decision makers | CMO, VP Marketing, brand managers with contact info |
| Pitch angles | Specific opportunities and pain points to address |
Generic company research tells you revenue and employee count. Agency-specific research tells you their Facebook ROAS is declining and their SEO traffic dropped 40% after a site redesign. That's the intelligence that wins pitches.
Getting Started
Most agencies set up automated prospect research in under an hour. Research runs automatically when prospects enter your pipeline, so your team always pitches with full context.