# How to use Grok for sales research > Use Grok to find recent news and posts about a prospect before you call. Steps, prompts and how to check what it finds. By Corey Leon. First posted 2026-10-28. Updated 2026-10-28. Source: https://www.simpleai.community/blog/how-to-use-grok-for-sales-research/ License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Credit Simple AI with a link. Question: How do I use Grok to research prospects and news? Grok is the AI from xAI, and it can search the web and posts on X, which makes it handy for finding what a company or person has done lately before you call them. Ask it for recent news, new hires, new locations or public posts about a prospect, and ask it to show the link for every fact. Then click the links and check, because any AI can mix up two companies with the same name. Use what you confirm to write a better opening line, not to sound like you have been watching them. ## Steps 1. **Open Grok.** Use the Grok app, grok.com or the Grok button inside X. You can start on the free version. Paid plans add more use. 2. **Give it the exact company.** Type the full company name plus the city or website. "Acme Supply in Columbus, Ohio, acmesupply.com" stops it from mixing them up with another Acme. 3. **Ask for recent, dated facts with links.** Ask for news from the last 90 days, each with a date and a link. Dates matter. Old news makes you sound out of touch. 4. **Ask about the person, carefully.** You can ask what a buyer has posted publicly about their work. Stick to work topics. Skip anything personal. 5. **Click every link.** Open the source for each fact you plan to use. If the link is dead or says something else, drop that fact. 6. **Turn one real fact into a reason to call.** A new warehouse, a new hire in a role you serve, a product launch. Pick one and write a short opener around it. 7. **Write it down.** Put the fact, the date and the link in your CRM notes so the next person doesn't redo the work. ## Prompts you can copy ### Recent company news ```prompt Find news and public updates about [company name], [city], [website] from the last 90 days. List each item with: the date, one sentence on what happened, and the link. Only include items you can link to. If you find nothing recent, say so. Do not include other companies with a similar name. ``` ### What the buyer talks about ```prompt Look for public posts or interviews from [full name], [job title] at [company], about their work in the last 6 months. Give me the 3 topics they talk about most, with a link to one example for each. Work topics only. If you cannot find posts by this exact person, say so. ``` ### Turn a fact into an opener ```prompt I sell [what you sell] to [type of buyer]. Here is a confirmed fact about the prospect: [fact, date and link]. Write 3 short opening lines for a cold call, each under 25 words, that connect this fact to a problem I help with. Plain, friendly, no flattery. Do not start with "I noticed" or similar. ``` ### Industry news for a call list ```prompt What changed in the [industry, like commercial roofing] industry in [state or region] in the last 60 days? Think new rules, big projects, price changes or shortages. Give me 5 items, each with a date and a link, and one line on why a [type of buyer] would care. ``` ## Example This is a made-up example. You sell forklifts and racking. You ask Grok about a food distributor in Tampa. It comes back with a dated local news story about the company opening a second warehouse and a job post for a warehouse manager, both with links. You click both. The news story checks out. The job post is gone, so you drop it. Your opener becomes: "I'm calling because you're opening the new warehouse on the east side, and that's usually when racking and forklift plans get made. Who's handling that on your side?" ## Tips - Ask for links every single time. It is the only way to know the fact is real. - Search for job changes too. A new ops manager is often open to a new vendor. See our [job changes guide](/leads/jobchanges/). - Keep the research to five minutes per account. You are looking for one good reason to call, not a report. - Pair this with [who to call](/whotocall/) and [cold call openers](/calls/opener/). ## What not to do - Don't open a call by listing everything you found. One fact is plenty. - Don't use anything personal, like family or vacation posts. Work only. - Don't trust a fact without a working link and a date. Grok can be wrong, like every AI tool. ## FAQ ### Why use Grok instead of ChatGPT for research? Grok can pull from posts on X as well as the web, which helps when a company or buyer posts there a lot. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can also search the web on some plans. Use whichever gives you dated, linked facts you can check. ### Is it ok to research a prospect this way? Looking at public news and public work posts is normal sales prep. Stay away from personal details and don't mention things that would feel creepy to hear on a cold call. ### What if Grok finds nothing? That happens with small private companies. Fall back to their website, their job posts and their LinkedIn page, or just call and ask good questions. ### Can Grok give me phone numbers or emails? Don't count on it, and don't use contact details from an AI answer without checking them in a real data source first.