sales-research

name	sales-research
description	Runs AI background research on a company (and optionally a contact) in the Zynkr platform CRM and writes a concise, sales-context zh-TW brief into the company's 備註/description field. This is a Claude Code stand-in for the platform's own "AI 背景研究" button (app/lib/ai/research.ts) — that feature only exists in the platform.zynkr.ai web UI and is NOT exposed through the connected `zynkr` MCP server, which only offers CRUD tools (create_company, create_contact, update_company, etc.), so there is no MCP call to trigger it directly. This skill closes that gap by doing the same job — targeted web research (what the company does, industry, size/HQ, notable facts, and why they might need Zynkr) — then writing the result back via update_company / create_company. Trigger EAGERLY whenever Peter says "trigger company research", "research this company", "研究這間公司", "查一下這間公司背景", "幫我查一下[公司名]", "look into [company]", "跑一下背景研究", or asks to research/enrich/look up a company or contact that is or is about to be in the Zynkr CRM — even if he only names the company and doesn't spell out "research." Also fire immediately after a company/contact gets created in this conversation if he asks for research on it in the same breath (e.g. "create a company for X, also trigger company research"). Do NOT fire automatically after every company/contact creation on your own initiative — only when asked, in this call or the next.
category	sales-consultant
project	sales-research
platform	claude
status	Done
author	Peter Tu
sheetId	2.11
input	A company name/domain (and optionally a contact name), or an existing Zynkr CRM company_id / contact_id.
process	Resolve the CRM company record → web research (what they do, size/HQ, facts, sales-fit angle) → dated zh-TW brief flagged unverified → append into description (read-merge-write) → optional task note for a named contact → report.
output	The company's 備註/description field updated with a dated AI-research brief, plus an optional note-style task on a named contact — never overwriting prior content.
synergy	[]

Sales Research

npx skills add https://github.com/peter-tu-zynkr/zynkr-skill-builder --skill sales-research

Given a company (and optionally a contact) in the Zynkr CRM, this skill runs targeted web research on it — what it does, size/HQ, notable facts, and a sales-fit angle for Zynkr's own products/services — and writes a concise, dated, zh-TW brief into that company's 備註 (description) field, flagged as AI-researched and unverified. Trigger it whenever Peter asks to research, look into, or check the background of a company or contact tied to the CRM.

Why this exists

Zynkr's own AI platform (platform.zynkr.ai) already has an "AI 背景研究" feature — a button on the company/contact/deal detail page that runs a Claude tool-use loop (app/lib/ai/research.ts, generateBrief: up to 8 web searches, RESEARCH_MODEL) and saves a zh-TW markdown brief as a CRM note. It's genuinely good, but it's web-UI only — the connected zynkr MCP server (mcp__zynkr__*) exposes only CRUD tools (create/get/update/list for companies, contacts, deals, tasks, quotes, KB) and has no research/enrichment tool to call from here. So from Claude Code there's no way to press that button.

This skill is the workaround: it reproduces the outcome (a useful, sales-angled background brief landing in the CRM) using tools Claude Code already has — WebSearch / WebFetch for the research, mcp__zynkr__* for the CRM write — without needing the platform's internal research route. Because it's a rebuild, not the same audited pipeline, always label the output as AI-researched and unverified — exactly the posture the platform's own feature takes (an aid to the salesperson, not a source of truth).

How this differs from its neighbours

• sales-outbound — enriches a contact from a profile URL the prospect handed over (LinkedIn/IG/Threads bio) as one step inside logging a whole DM conversation as a lead. It doesn't do open-ended company research.
• consult-intake — a weekly batch sweep of inbound consulting-inquiry emails into deals; doesn't research anything.
• sales-research (this one) — takes a company (± contact) already in, or about to enter, the CRM and does dedicated background research on it, on demand, independent of any particular conversation thread.

If the research turns up that this is a live consulting/demo lead worth a human follow-up, say so in the report — but don't create deals or tasks beyond what's described below; that's the calling skill's (or Peter's) job.

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Workflow

1 · Resolve the CRM company record

You need a company_id before you can write anything. Figure out which case you're in:

• Given an id directly (e.g. from earlier in the conversation) → skip to step 2, no lookup needed.
• Given a name/domain, record likely exists → mcp__zynkr__list_companies and match by name/domain (case-insensitive, tolerate spacing/casing differences). Found → use that id.
• No match, or Peter is asking you to create the company right now → do the research first (step 2), then mcp__zynkr__create_company with the brief already embedded in description from the start — that's one write instead of create-then-append. Preview (confirm omitted/false), show Peter what would be created, then re-call with confirm: true.
• Owner — default to Peter (mcp__zynkr__whoami → owner_id) unless told otherwise.

A contact may be named alongside the company (e.g. "research this company for Christina at JMP"). If so, resolve or note the contact_id too — you'll use it in step 5.

2 · Do the research

Aim for a handful of targeted searches, not an open-ended crawl — this mirrors the platform's own cap (max 8 web searches per brief):

1. WebSearch the company name (+ domain if known) to find what they do, industry, rough size, HQ/location, and any notable recent facts (funding, news, leadership).
2. If an official site/About page turns up, WebFetch it for anything the search snippet didn't cover.
3. If a contact was named, one more search on their name + company for role/background — skip if nothing surfaces, don't guess.
4. Think about the sales-fit angle: given what Zynkr sells (an AI platform with CRM/knowledge-base/automation features, plus AI-adoption consulting and training), why might this company plausibly be interested? Ground this in what the research actually surfaced (e.g. "manages a lot of manual CRM upkeep," "recently scaling a sales team," "reliant on spreadsheet workflows") — don't invent a pain point that wasn't evidenced.

If the research comes up thin (obscure company, no useful web presence), say so plainly in the brief rather than padding it with generic filler.

3 · Structure the brief

Write in zh-TW, matching the platform's own tone — compact, sales-oriented, not a Wikipedia dump. Use this shape:

### 🔍 AI 背景研究 — <YYYY-MM-DD>
**公司概況：** 一兩句話：做什麼、產業、規模／總部
**值得注意：** 任何近況、資金、新聞（沒有就省略這行）
**銷售脈絡：** 為什麼可能對 Zynkr 感興趣的推論——扣緊研究中實際發現的線索
**聯絡人備註：** <僅在有指定聯絡人時才寫> 角色／背景
⚠️ AI 自動研究，未經人工查證 — 使用前請自行確認

Keep it to a short paragraph or two per section — this goes into a CRM notes field someone will skim, not a report.

4 · Write it into the company record — append, never clobber

The company's description field is a shared notes area (address details, prior context, etc. may already be there from earlier work). Always read-merge-write:

• Existing company: mcp__zynkr__get_company(id) → take its current description → append the new brief below it (separated by a blank line) → mcp__zynkr__update_company(id, description=<merged text>), preview then confirm: true.
• Brand-new company (step 1's create-now case): just set description to the brief directly in create_company — nothing to merge yet.

Never pass other fields you're not intentionally changing — update_company only touches what you pass, so a bare id + description call leaves everything else (address, tax_id, owner, etc.) untouched.

5 · Contact-level note (only if a contact was named)

Contacts have no description/notes field in this MCP — the closest equivalent is a task. File one via mcp__zynkr__create_task:

• contact_id: the resolved contact
• subject: AI 背景研究 — <contact name> · <YYYY-MM-DD>
• body: the "聯絡人備註" portion of the brief (plus a one-line pointer back to the company record's fuller brief)
• Leave due_at unset — this is a record, not an actionable to-do.
• Preview, then confirm: true.

6 · Report

Tell Peter what you found and where it landed — a short summary of the brief plus which record(s) got updated, e.g.:

研究完成並寫入 CRM 備註：

**JMP**（公司 id ...）
- 產業：統計/資料視覺化軟體，SAS 子公司
- 銷售脈絡：CRM 管理耗時 → 可能對 Zynkr AI 平台的 CRM 自動化功能感興趣
- 已附加到公司 description（保留原有內容）

⚠️ AI 自動研究，未經查證，回覆客戶前請自行確認關鍵事實

If the CRM write actually failed or you had to skip something (e.g. couldn't resolve a company_id), say that plainly instead of reporting success.

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Things to be careful about

• This is a workaround, not the platform's audited pipeline. Always include the ⚠️ unverified disclaimer in what you write to the CRM — don't let a confident-sounding brief get mistaken for a vetted fact.
• Never fabricate. If web research doesn't surface something (size, funding, a contact's role), leave it out rather than guessing.
• Never overwrite existing description content. Read before you write, every time — this field may hold address/notes from other workflows.
• Preview-then-confirm on every CRM write (create_company, update_company, create_task all require confirm: true to actually apply) — show Peter the preview first if this is a new company being created, since that's a bigger commitment than appending a note.
• Don't create deals, contacts, or companies you weren't asked to create. If the company/contact doesn't exist and Peter only asked for "research," ask whether he wants it created too rather than assuming.
• Scope stays research + write-back. If the findings suggest a real sales or consulting opportunity, flag it in the report — don't spin up a deal or hand off to another skill unprompted.