client-research-dossier

Client Research Dossier

What this does

Assembles a comprehensive, decision-ready research dossier on a single company, client, or brand. The output is one structured markdown document that profiles the business end to end — positioning, people, products, market, owned channels, search posture, competitors, and the highest-leverage things to fix first — so a strategist can walk into kickoff already fluent in the account.

When to use it

• Onboarding a new client or account and you need a baseline brief.
• Scoping a strategy, SEO/GEO, or growth engagement before writing a proposal.
• Preparing for a kickoff or discovery call and need the full picture fast.
• Refreshing an existing dossier after a material change (new product, rebrand, funding, leadership change).

If the deliverable you actually want is a deep competitor map, use the competitive-intel-matrix skill instead. If it's a forward plan, use growth-strategy-playbook. This skill is the upstream baseline both rely on.

How to use it

1. Confirm the subject and scope: the legal entity, all trading names, the primary domain, and any sub-brands or sister entities. Note the engagement type so the dossier emphasizes the right sections.
2. Research breadth-first across the live site, social profiles, directory listings, press, founder profiles (LinkedIn/Crunchbase), reviews, and any public filings. Capture exact figures, dates, handles, and URLs — specificity is the product.
3. Assemble the dossier section by section following the canonical outline in references/dossier-outline.md. Every section there lists exactly what it must contain; do not skip sections, mark genuinely unknown items as "Open question" and route them to the final section rather than guessing.
4. Build the 90-day Quick-Win Audit by scoring each finding with the impact × effort rubric in references/quick-win-rubric.md and labeling each P0, P1, or P2.
5. Keep the competitive section brief — name the rings and the top threats, then point to a full competitive-intel-matrix deliverable for depth.
6. Close with a one-line strategic positioning hypothesis, a risk register, and a numbered list of open onboarding questions the client must answer before a plan can be locked.

Inputs

• Company / brand name(s) and primary domain.
• Engagement type (e.g. SEO/GEO, full growth, brand, web rebuild).
• Any known facts, internal access, or source material the user provides.
• Optional: target depth (quick baseline vs. exhaustive dossier).

Output

A single markdown file, typically saved as research/00_<Company>_Research_Dossier.md in the client's folder. It opens with an executive summary and follows the full section order in the outline reference, ending with the risk register and open questions.

Notes & constraints

• Cite sources inline (URL or handle) for every non-obvious claim. Distinguish confirmed facts from inference; never invent figures, dates, or names.
• Prefer primary sources (the live site, the founder's own posts, filings) over aggregators when they conflict, and note the conflict.
• Flag brand-name collisions and naming inconsistencies explicitly — they are often the single highest-impact finding.
• Use forward-slash paths. Keep the dossier readable: tables for inventories (channels, competitors, quick wins), prose for analysis.