Clay Account Research Reports

Hey, Claymakers!

Account research can take A LOT of time.

This is true for SDRs, Account Executives, and even Customer Success.

It’s one of the most common inefficiencies that I hear from RevOps and Sales Leaders in weekly conversations.

Today’s post goes into 1 way to deliver this info to reps in the form of automated research reports generated in Google Docs from Clay tables. (Including a Slack DM notification.)

The flow looks like this:

Let’s dive in.

But, first - if you aren’t using Clay yet, take advantage of my referral link that gives you 3,000 free credits when you signup for a paid account.

1. Build Account Research Table

This will be our data foundation that we’ll use to fill variables in the Google Docs template.

I’ll be using a table that pulls in tech stack data and integrates with API Ninjas, pulls DNS records, and then analyzes the record for cloud hosting insights.

2. Build Google Docs Template

This will be a template that you reference within Zapier.

The variables like will ultimately map to columns in your Clay tables.

2 things to note here:

• You must have a pair of curly brackets on each side

• There can’t be any spaces such as

Mine looks like this (pardon my horrendous design skills…):

3. Setup HTTP API > Zapier

Part 1:

• Put the method to PUT.

• Input the Zapier API Endpoint that you’ll find in Zapier on the first step of the automation flow (more on that below)

HTTP API Example:

Part 2:

Now we’ll map the Clay columns to the variables that you setup in Gdocs.

This is a JSON format, so it goes as follows (be sure to add a comma in between each matching:

{“Variable”: COLUMN}

Tip: if a column doesn’t have data, you’ll want to flip the ‘required’ blue switch. This means that it’s not required to run. If you don’t have it flipped, then you’ll get a run error.

4. Zapier Workflow

There’s multiple setups in the wizard that guides you. But ultimately, you do the following:

1. Send test data to the Zapier webhook

2. Authenticate into Google

3. Define the action event (in this case its “Create Document from Template”)

4. Map data to the variables

5. Test

6. Then setup the Slack Direct Message so you get an alert to your report

5. The Flow & Example Report

Now when you run a row in your Clay table it will:

1. Automate all your manual research

2. Send that into Zapier

3. Zapier creates a report

4. Zapier sends you a Slack notification

Here’s an example report:

Around the Kiln

What I’ve been reading:

• The ConnectedGTM - a great newsletter on automation & HubSpot Claybooks

• Yelling at Cloud - tactical sales & GTM advice from Dakota McKenzie who we work with here at Clay.

• Post: A Startup Founder to Scaleup CEO’s Journey from $0 to $25B (by Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot.

Clay University 2.0 Launches:

Yash Tekriwal, Head of Education at Clay, has been putting out some incredible enablement.

Check it out here: https://www.clay.com/university

Highlights from the 2024 SaaS Benchmarks Report:

Big fan of Kyle Poyar’s LinkedIn content and newsletter, Growth Unhinged.