What's up, it's Zayd.

I was in the office “accidentally” eavesdropping, as we all do, and I overhead an AE on our team say something that stuck with me: "Most SDRs think their job is to send messages. The best ones know their job is to understand prospects." That stuck with me.

When we built Valley, we asked a simple question: "What would a top 1% SDR do if they had unlimited time?" The answer wasn't "send more messages" or "follow up more aggressively."

It was research. Deep, thoughtful, multi-dimensional research.

Most teams are stuck in a cycle of research theater—surface-level personalization like "I see you went to Michigan" or "Congrats on your recent funding." But that's just scanning.

Real research drives exponentially better results, and the data proves it.

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The Three Dimensions of Effective Research

Most AI tools stop at basic LinkedIn scraping. That's surface-level personalization, and prospects can smell it from a mile away. The real advantage comes from researching across three dimensions:

1. Individual Level

• LinkedIn posts and activity

• Twitter engagement

• Podcast appearances and quotes

• YouTube videos

• Newsletter contributions

• Personal website/blog content

This means finding out more than their title or where they went to school, but rather understanding their thinking, their challenges, and what they care about.

2. Company Level

• Recent funding rounds

• Competitor moves and funding

• Strategic initiatives from earnings calls

• Job postings (especially for relevant roles)

• Press releases and news coverage

• Technology stack changes

One of our customers closes 40% of their outbound by mentioning competitor funding events. When a prospect's competitor raises money, they immediately feel pressure to keep up, creating the perfect sales opening.

3. Industry Level

• Regulatory changes

• Market trends and forecasts

• Industry-specific challenges

• Recent innovation or disruption

• Analyst reports and predictions

• Larger economic factors

This context allows you to frame your solution within the bigger picture facing your prospect's industry.

The Research ROI Equation

This all sounds great, but literally no one has the time for all of this.

That’s what you’re probably thinking. I mean, it’s definitely what I was thinking at the jump, but here's the math that changed how I see this:

Let's say an SDR spends 30 minutes researching a prospect before sending outreach. That research costs you about $15 in fully loaded labor costs.

• Scenario A: Send 20 lightly researched messages (5 min each) = $50 cost, 2% response rate = 0.4 responses

• Scenario B: Send 5 deeply researched messages (30 min each) = $75 cost, 20% response rate = 1 response

Scenario B costs 50% more but yields 150% more responses. The ROI is exponential.

Now scale this across thousands of outreach attempts and factor in opportunity cost, and the gap becomes enormous. This is why the best teams are investing more in research, not less.

Research Is The New Personalization

AI has commoditized basic personalization. Everyone can now send messages with "[First_Name], I noticed you work at [Company_Name]..."

It’s templated spam.

Real personalization requires understanding context that only research can provide. It's the difference between:

Generic: "I noticed you're a VP of Sales."

Researched: "I saw your LinkedIn post about struggling to hit pipeline targets with your current SDR team. Given that your competitor just raised $10M, I can imagine the pressure to scale efficiently is even higher now."

The first message could go to any VP of Sales. The second could only go to one specific person at one specific time.

Real Examples That Are Working

Example 1: Competitor-Based Research "Hey [Name], I just saw that [Competitor] raised a $10M Series A. I'm sure you're thinking about how to generate more pipeline without adding headcount right now. Here's how we can help..."

20% response rate vs. 1% for generic outreach.

Example 2: Job Posting Research "Hi [Name], I noticed you're hiring for 3 new SDRs. After talking with dozens of sales leaders facing similar scaling challenges, we've found a way to get the output of 3 SDRs without the headcount cost. Would this be relevant?"

15% response rate vs. 2% for generic.

Example 3: Content Engagement Research "[Name], your comment on [Industry Expert]'s post about [Topic] resonated with me - especially your point about [Specific Detail]. We've been helping companies like yours address exactly that challenge by [Solution Approach]."

25% response rate vs. 3% for generic.

These are 5-10x better than typical outreach.

How To Scale Deep Research

Now for the big question: how do you make this level of research scalable?

There are three approaches:

1. The Manual Approach (Unsustainable)

Have SDRs spend 30-60 minutes researching each prospect before outreach. This works, but it's painfully slow and impossible to scale beyond a few dozen prospects per week.

2. The Hybrid Approach (Better)

Use AI tools to gather initial research data across all three dimensions, then have human SDRs review, synthesize, and craft the final message. This is 3-4x faster but still requires significant human input.

3. The AI-Powered Approach (Best)

Deploy specialized AI agents trained specifically to research across all three dimensions, synthesize insights, and generate hyper-relevant messages that feel 1:1. Human SDRs then review and approve before sending.

This is the approach we've built at Valley. Our AI agents can research prospects across individual, company, and industry dimensions, then craft messages that incorporate relevant insights from all three levels.

The result is messages that convert at 5-10x the rate of traditional outreach, with 90% less human effort.

The Research Revolution Is Just Beginning

Most teams are still stuck in the "spray and pray" era or the "basic personalization" era. The pioneering teams are entering the "research-led outreach" era, and the results speak for themselves.

In 2025, your outbound isn't competing against other outbound messages. It's competing against prospect inertia—the natural human tendency to ignore anything that doesn't feel immediately relevant.

Deep research is the only reliable way to overcome this inertia and create messages that truly stand out.

What I've learned after studying thousands of outbound campaigns is simple: The teams who invest in research win because they take the time to understand who they're talking to, and in an age of AI-generated everything, that understanding is the last true competitive advantage.

How I Can Help?

Let me book sales calls for you while you’re doing deep research. Seriously.

I built Valley to be your automated SDR and empower AEs. Get started today and watch your calendar fill up with qualified leads.