Every sales team knows the challenge of turning cold prospects into warm leads. Traditionally, many reps use the “3x3” approach—capture 3 key data points about a prospect in just 3 minutes—to quickly personalize their outreach. This process often results in incomplete or outdated information, shallow personalization, and wasted hours that could be better spent building relationships or closing deals.
That’s where Relevance AI steps in. We’ve redefined the 3x3 research framework by automating and enriching account research at scale. Instead of scrambling under tight time constraints, our AI Research agent continuously sources and updates essential prospect information from multiple channels and crafts a report automatically. The result? Your team gains fast, reliable insights that transform research from a tedious task into a strategic competitive advantage.
In this article, we’ll unpack the hurdles of traditional account research, show how Relevance AI’s research agent redefines the 3x3 approach to deliver rapid, actionable prospect insights, and guide you on getting started.
Common Obstacles in Traditional Research
Sales reps often find themselves juggling multiple tabs and tools—LinkedIn profiles, web searches, CRMs, and spreadsheets—just to piece together a basic account plan. The traditional “3x3” approach in many cases becomes a rushed method that leads to incomplete, fragmented prospect research.
Even when reps manage to gather the necessary details, the information remains scattered across different platforms. This fragmentation makes it hard to connect the dots, resulting in shallow insights and missed opportunities for deeper personalization. The outcome? Interactions that feel generic and fail to engage.
In today’s fast-paced market, speed matters. Delays in research mean slower speed-to-lead times, giving competitors the chance to swoop in and capture your prospects’ attention. Without a streamlined process, businesses risk falling behind.
Account Research in Relevance AI: How It Works
Every organization has its unique research method, and the AI Account Researcher agent adapts seamlessly to those needs. Whether it’s defining an ideal customer profile (ICP), capturing key data fields, or tracking signals that matter most, this AI agent mirrors your existing processes with complete customization—no one-size-fits-all templates.
Unlike the traditional 3x3 method, our AI agent automatically gathers and enriches data—eliminating the rush and providing a complete, real-time account snapshot.
Rather than relying on manual searches or disjointed tools, the Account Researcher agent taps into multiple channels simultaneously—social media, search engines, news sites. Whether you run it manually or set it to trigger automatically with updates to your CRM, the agent promptly enriches your prospect information with fresh intel—ensuring your outreach is always informed and timely.
Even better, the agent integrates seamlessly with your tech stack, keeping your team in the loop without extra tabs or tedious copy-paste. Imagine receiving a Slack update the instant key fields for a prospect are filled, or an automated nudge every time a relevant trigger (like a leadership change) is detected. By eliminating hours of tab-hopping through a single, comprehensive workflow, the AI Research agent ensures your entire sales team can focus in on what truly matters—conversations that drive deals forward.
How Can an AI Research Agent Help Your Team?
By moving beyond the limitations of the 3x3 approach, your team can shift focus from inefficient manual research to high-impact strategic outreach.
The AI Research agent transforms time-consuming data hunts into actionable insights—reducing research hours by up to 80%. For instance, one customer enriched 30 data fields in real time across 20,000 accounts (nearly 100,000 contacts), directly sharpening their outreach efforts. With this timely intel, the reps were able to increase sales call effectiveness by up to 25%, fostering more engaging conversations and higher conversion rates.
Onboarding an AI Research agent not only boosts efficiency but also enhances outreach quality. Another one of our customer’s SDR team accessed higher-quality leads and enriched accounts, leading to improved messaging and conversion rates. Instead of hiring more staff, the time saved can be reinvested in nurturing deeper relationships. For RevOps, streamlined research means greater ROI—more deals, less overhead, and a stronger pipeline—all without sacrificing the human touch that resonates with prospects.
Next Steps: Adopting Relevance AI
Accelerating prospect research isn’t just about saving time—it’s about staying ahead in today’s competitive market. By replacing the manual and outdated 3x3 method with an autonomous AI Research agent, you gain a meaningful edge in engaging prospects before your competitors.
Curious to see our AI Research agent in action?
Book a personalized demo to discover how our solution can seamlessly integrate with your tools, delivering automated prospect research and real-time updates. Experience how Relevance AI turns account research into a strategic advantage, enabling you to build strong relationships, close more deals, and build a stronger pipeline.
