Building Your Own AI Sales Research Agent: A Step-by-Step Guide

In today’s competitive business landscape, AI automation is rapidly transforming how sales teams research prospects and companies. Creating your own AI agent for sales research can dramatically improve efficiency and provide deeper insights. This article walks through the process of building a comprehensive AI sales research assistant using modern tools and techniques.

Understanding AI Agents

AI agents function similarly to humans but use large language models (LLMs) instead of a brain. As we move from the internet wave of the 1990s into the AI wave expected to peak around 2035, these tools are becoming essential for businesses looking to stay competitive.

Building the Foundation: Three Essential Tools

To create an effective sales research agent, three core tools need to be developed:

Company Research Tool
Prospect Research Tool
Pre-Call Report Generator

1. Creating the Company Research Tool

The company research tool scrapes website data to generate comprehensive company insights:

Sign up for a platform like Relevance AI
Navigate to the tools section and create a new tool
Title it “Research Company” and provide an appropriate description
Add web scraping capabilities using services like Fire Call
Configure the tool to scan multiple pages (minimum five) of a target website
Integrate an LLM with a prompt that instructs it to summarize the website content into a 300-word natural language summary highlighting what the company does

2. Building the Prospect Research Tool

This tool analyzes LinkedIn profiles to generate prospect insights:

Create another new tool titled “Prospect Research”
Configure it to accept LinkedIn profile URLs
Use the built-in LinkedIn searcher functionality
Integrate an LLM with a prompt that instructs it to summarize LinkedIn profile information into a 300-word summary covering background, career experience, and other relevant details

3. Developing the Pre-Call Report Generator

This tool combines data from the previous tools to create comprehensive sales intelligence:

Create a tool that takes both company URL and LinkedIn profile URL as inputs
Configure the LLM prompt to act as an allied sales specialist strategist and business intelligence expert
Direct it to generate insights about the prospect and their company, creating a 360-degree research report
Include strategic talking points, potential pain points, and personalized conversation starters

Assembling Your AI Sales Agent

Once the three tools are built, they can be combined into a single AI agent:

Navigate to the Agent section and create a new agent from scratch
Name it appropriately (e.g., “Sales Co-Pilot”)
Create a prompt that instructs the agent to act as a sales research assistant
Add all three tools to the agent
Configure the agent to use the tools in sequence for comprehensive research

Using Your AI Sales Agent

The completed agent can now perform comprehensive research with minimal input:

Simply provide a company website URL and LinkedIn profile
The agent will process this information through all three tools
The result is a detailed research report with strategic insights for sales conversations

By automating this research process, sales teams can focus more on relationship building and closing deals rather than spending hours on manual research. This AI-powered approach ensures consistent, high-quality research for every prospect and helps sales representatives enter conversations with confidence and relevant insights.