Research a territory and select the accounts actually worth working
Turns a raw territory assignment into a worked plan: the shape of the actual market in your patch, where timing pressure clusters right now, a committed shortlist with explicit selection logic, a deliberate ignore list, coverage math matched to your real capacity, and a first-two-weeks sequence. It's the difference between inheriting a list and owning a territory.
You are a territory strategist who has planned patches for reps at three sales orgs, and you know the truth nobody tells new territory owners: the territory is not the list your ops team handed you. It's the market underneath it — and the first month is won or lost on account selection. Help me research a territory and build a defensible account selection. Using browsing where useful plus what I paste, produce: 1. TERRITORY SHAPE — the market in my patch: roughly how many companies fit my ICP here, which industries and size bands cluster in it, and anything structural (a regional hub for an industry, a dominant local player, a regulation unique to this geography). 2. DEMAND POCKETS — 2 to 4 segments within the territory where timing pressure is highest right now, each with the evidence (regulatory deadlines, funding activity in the region, industry momentum). 3. SELECTION SHORTLIST — from my pasted list (or the profile of what to hunt for if I have no list yet): the accounts to work first, with a one-line why each. Selection logic must be explicit: fit, timing evidence, and reachability. 4. IGNORE LIST — what to deliberately NOT work this quarter and why; a territory plan without exclusions is a wish list. 5. COVERAGE MATH — given my capacity, how the quarter splits: how many deep accounts, how many programmatic, what that leaves for inbound and referrals. 6. FIRST TWO WEEKS — the concrete research-and-outreach sequence to start with, day by day in broad strokes. Rules: no 'it depends' hedging on the shortlist — commit to picks and show reasoning. Mark estimates as estimates. If my territory definition is too vague to research, make me tighten it first. Before you plan anything, interview me. Ask me these questions ONE AT A TIME, waiting for my answer each time: 1. Define the territory: geography, industry, size band — however your org carves it. 2. What do you sell, average deal size, and sales cycle length? 3. Paste your account list if you have one, or say 'no list yet.' 4. What's your capacity — just you, or a team? How many accounts can get real attention per month? 5. Any history in this territory — existing customers, past wins or losses, brand recognition? Once you have my answers, build the plan.
How to use it
- 1
Copy the prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini with browsing enabled for the market-shape and demand-pocket sections.
- 2
Define the territory precisely in question 1 — 'US Southeast, manufacturers 100-1000 employees' researches; 'the Southeast' doesn't.
- 3
Paste whatever list you inherited, including junk; the ignore list is half the value.
- 4
Pressure-test the SELECTION SHORTLIST against your own knowledge, then commit — a decided plan you adjust beats a perfect plan you never start.
- 5
Run the FIRST TWO WEEKS sequence as written, then revisit the plan monthly as real engagement data comes in.
Best practices
Browsing makes DEMAND POCKETS real — regional funding news, state-level regulation, and local industry momentum aren't in any model's memory reliably.
Give existing customer names in question 5 if you have any in-territory; nearby lookalikes of a live customer are the warmest cold accounts you'll ever work.
Defend the ignore list to your manager as capacity math, not laziness — coverage theater across 400 accounts loses to conviction on 60.
Rerun TERRITORY SHAPE when comp plans reset or patches get recut; territory research has a season, and it's the two weeks after assignment.
Example: what this looks like in practice
An AE inherits a new patch: Texas and Oklahoma, healthcare and professional services, for a document-automation platform. She runs the prompt with her 310-account inherited list. TERRITORY SHAPE flags a dense cluster of mid-size specialty clinics around two metro areas; DEMAND POCKETS surfaces a state payer-documentation rule change taking effect in January. The shortlist commits to 45 accounts — clinics over 10 providers in the affected specialties — and the ignore list parks 140 accounts including every hospital system (18-month cycles her first-year quota can't fund). Two weeks in, the regulation angle is booking meetings at triple her old blanket-sequence rate.
Best fit
This prompt is one gear in a bigger machine. We orchestrate 20+ tools into outbound systems our clients own — and guarantee the results.
Apply for a Pilot Spot → →Frequently asked questions
Three moves in order: understand the actual market in your patch (not just the list you inherited), find where timing pressure is concentrated right now, then commit to a shortlist sized to your real capacity — with an explicit ignore list for everything else. This prompt runs all three and finishes with a first-two-weeks sequence so the plan starts instead of sitting in a doc.
More account & prospect research prompts
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Produces a one-page, source-backed account brief with a fixed six-section structure: snapshot, revenue logic, recent momentum, evidence-based pressures, two outreach angles, and landmines to avoid. It compresses the hour of tab-hopping most reps do before a tier-one account into ten minutes, and forces every claim to carry a source.
Scan an account for trigger events: news, funding, leadership moves, layoffs
Runs a structured six-month trigger-event sweep on one account — funding, leadership changes, layoffs, launches, expansion, legal news — and returns a dated, sourced signal log, the top three events ranked by outreach value, a ready-to-adapt angle for the best one, and an honest timing call including 'no trigger exists.' It turns 'why now' from a guess into evidence.
Audit a prospect list for quality before a single email goes out
Audits a prospect list before launch: completeness and duplicates, out-of-ICP rows, stale-data risks, deliverability hazards like role-based emails and sequence collisions, and an honest A-F grade with a prioritized fix list. It catches the problems that get misdiagnosed as 'copy issues' three weeks and one burned domain later.