[Clay Template] How to Build a Competitive Outbound Engine That Sales Will Love
Use HG Insights, CRM guardrails, and AI to find real competitor customers and prioritize the accounts most likely to convert.
Everyone wants a competitive outbound play, and frankly, everyone should be running one, but if you’re like many companies I work with (or have worked at in the past), it was a good idea, but never executed well.
Most teams pull a technographic list, dump it into a sequencer, and hope for the best. The problem is that much of that data is stale, so reps spend their time chasing companies that aren’t even using the competitor anymore. I’ve seen these campaigns work incredibly well, but only when you add better data, stronger scoring, and guardrails that keep your team focused on the accounts most likely to convert.
And this week’s Stack shows you how to do exactly that.
This week’s Stack:
1 video: Build a competitive outbound engine in Clay
1 prompt: Create your AI change management plan as a CMO
1 tool: Connect Manus to Meta Ads Manager for instant insights
3 resources: Personal AI systems, Claude tips, and ChatGPT memory
3 jobs: Product and performance marketing roles at top AI companies
Let’s go!
Workflow Walkthrough: Build a Competitive Outbound Engine That Your Reps Will Love
Everyone has competitors, So everyone can use this week’s Clay play.
In this 14-minute walkthrough, I show you how to build a Clay workbook that validates technology usage with HG Insights, scores every account across seven weighted criteria, and automatically filters out customers, open opportunities, and recently touched accounts. The result is a prioritized list your reps can trust (and a much better chance that you’ll look like the hero who brought it to the team).
The same framework also works for churn prevention, partner targeting, and expansion plays. Better data beats bigger lists every time, and timing and context matter far more than a giant spreadsheet of logos.
What you’ll see:
How to use HG Insights to verify which companies are actively using a competitor’s product
Why I score accounts across seven criteria, including revenue, hiring, funding, and signal freshness
How to add Salesforce guardrails so reps never touch customers or active deals
Ways to generate AI-written openers and send account dossiers to Slack or your sequencer
How to repurpose the same workflow for partner campaigns, churn alerts, and expansion opportunities
If you’re just getting started with clay and need some extra credits to play around with, sign up with my referral code and you’ll get 3,000 free credits.
Here’s the Clay Workbook Template you can copy into your own Clay instance.
Prompt of the Week: The CMO’s AI Change Management Playbook
I’ve learned that the hardest part of AI adoption is getting people to change how they work. You can give them the tools and give them access to learning. But as they say, you can only lead a horse to water.
I’ve seen teams buy enterprise licenses, announce a bold AI strategy, and then watch usage stall because no one understood what was expected of them. The companies making the most progress are treating AI like any other major transformation initiative. They set a clear vision, define new ways of working, and communicate consistently so the entire organization understands where they’re headed and why it matters.
Use this prompt to create a complete change management and communication plan for rolling out AI across your marketing organization (or your entire company).
Act as an experienced Chief Marketing Officer and enterprise change management leader with deep expertise in AI adoption, organizational design, and executive communications.
Your task is to create a complete change management and communications plan for launching and scaling AI initiatives across my organization.
## Context
Company Name: [COMPANY NAME]
Industry: [INDUSTRY]
Business Model: [B2B SaaS / B2B Services / Marketplace / Other]
Company Size: [NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES]
Marketing Team Size: [NUMBER OF TEAM MEMBERS]
Annual Revenue: [ARR OR REVENUE]
Primary Markets Served: [TARGET MARKETS]
Current AI Maturity: [Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced]
Executive Sponsor(s): [CEO, CMO, COO, CTO, etc.]
Departments Involved: [Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Product, Operations, HR, Finance]
Primary AI Use Cases: [Content Creation, Research, Forecasting, Personalization, Automation, Analytics, etc.]
Primary Goals: [Increase Productivity, Improve Quality, Reduce Costs, Accelerate Innovation, Improve Decision-Making]
Known Concerns: [Job Security, Data Privacy, Compliance, Quality Control, Change Fatigue]
Implementation Timeline: [90 Days / 6 Months / 12 Months]
Budget: [BUDGET]
Technology Stack: [ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Clay, n8n, etc.]
## Objectives
Create a detailed plan that helps me:
1. Communicate a compelling vision for why AI matters.
2. Build excitement and reduce fear across the organization.
3. Define clear expectations for leaders and individual contributors.
4. Establish governance, policies, and responsible use guidelines.
5. Roll out training and enablement programs.
6. Measure adoption and business impact.
7. Sustain momentum over time.
## Deliverables
### 1. Executive Vision Statement
Write a concise but inspiring message from the CMO explaining:
- Why AI is a strategic priority.
- How AI will augment employees rather than replace them.
- What success looks like.
- What is expected from every team member.
### 2. Change Narrative
Create a narrative covering:
- Why we must change now.
- What happens if we do nothing.
- What will change.
- What will stay the same.
- How employees will be supported.
### 3. Stakeholder Analysis
Identify:
- Executive leaders
- Functional managers
- Individual contributors
- AI champions
- Skeptics and potential blockers
For each group, include:
- Likely concerns
- Key messages
- Desired behaviors
- Communication channels
### 4. Communications Plan
Build a 12-month communications plan including:
- Executive kickoff announcement
- Town halls
- Team meetings
- Email updates
- Slack announcements
- Success stories
- Office hours
- Quarterly business reviews
For each communication, include:
- Timing
- Audience
- Objective
- Core message
- Owner
### 5. Training and Enablement Plan
Design role-based training for:
- Executives
- Managers
- Individual contributors
- AI champions
Include:
- Learning objectives
- Curriculum topics
- Recommended cadence
- Certifications or assessments
### 6. Governance Framework
Outline:
- Approved tools
- Data security guidelines
- Prompt standards
- Human review requirements
- Compliance and legal considerations
- Escalation procedures
### 7. Adoption Metrics Dashboard
Recommend KPIs such as:
- Active users
- Frequency of use
- Time saved
- Cost reduction
- Campaign velocity
- Content output
- Pipeline contribution
- Employee sentiment
### 8. Resistance Management Plan
Detail:
- Common objections
- Recommended responses
- Coaching guidance for managers
- Escalation paths
### 9. Recognition Program
Create ways to celebrate:
- Early adopters
- High-impact use cases
- Productivity gains
- Innovation awards
### 10. 30-60-90 Day Rollout Plan
Provide:
- Key milestones
- Deliverables
- Decision points
- Risks and mitigation steps
### 11. Leadership Talking Points
Write concise talking points for executives and managers.
### 12. FAQ
Draft 25 frequently asked questions covering:
- Job security
- Data privacy
- Tool selection
- Training expectations
- Performance implications
- Governance
## Output Format
Present the final plan in a structured format with:
- Executive summary
- Detailed tables where appropriate
- Sample communication templates
- Actionable recommendations
- Prioritized next steps
Write in a practical, executive-ready style that I can use immediately with my leadership team.I’ve added this to my The Ultimate ChatGPT Prompt Library for B2B Marketing Leaders notion doc. Check it out for 65+ more prompts.
Know someone who might find this prompt useful? Share it with them!
Tool of the Week: Turn Meta Ads Manager into Your Competitive Intelligence Team
I’ve been spending some more time with Manus lately because a few marketing operators I highly respect are using it. One of the more useful applications is connecting it directly to Meta Ads Manager.
Once connected, you can build custom dashboards, analyze campaign performance, monitor spend and creative trends, and even scrape your competitors’ ads to see what’s working and where they’re focusing their messaging. I also use it to generate recommendations for improving targeting, creative, and budget allocation based on live account data.
If you’re running paid social, this turns your ad account into a source of insights instead of a collection of reports.
Check it out: https://manus.im/blog/manus-meta-ads-manager-connector
AI Resource Roundup
My AI Personal Operating System, Version 2.0 (Kathleen Booth’s Code Meets Creed Newsletter): One of the best behind-the-scenes looks I’ve seen at how someone has structured AI into their daily workflow. Kathleen covers how to think about models, prompts, memory, and systems so AI becomes part of how you work instead of another app you occasionally open.
52 Free Claude Tips and Tricks (Charlie Hill on LinkedIn): Charlie put together a fantastic collection of practical Claude tips you can start using immediately all in one LinkedIn post. If you’re spending more time in Claude, this is a quick way to pick up smarter prompting techniques and workflow ideas without paying for an expensive course.
The New Jobs AI Will Create (AI Daily Brief Youtube): The AI jobs debate has spent years asking which roles will disappear. This video asks the more important question: what becomes possible when AI expands the amount of useful work the economy can support? It’s a nice change from the AI Jobs apocalypse narrative.
Hot AI Jobs:
Here is another set of great AI jobs for marketers that came across my desk, but I do apologize that none of them have pay ranges. On the positive side, all of them are fully remote roles.
Senior Director, Product Marketing at Diagrid
Location: United States (Remote)
Pay Range: Not listed
Director of Product Marketing, AI at Unity
Location: United States (Remote)
Pay Range: Not listed
Head of Performance Marketing (Agentic AI-First) at ZoomInfo
Location: United States (Remote)
Pay Range: Not listed
Yesterday was my kids’ last day of school, which means summer has officially begun.
Or at least I think it has – we somehow got snow in Colorado this week, because apparently the weather didn’t get the memo.
Summer is one of my favorite times to experiment with AI. Things tend to slow down a bit, calendars open up, and it’s a great opportunity to build systems that will save you time for the rest of the year. That’s exactly what I plan to be doing (at least during the brief windows when I’m not being recruited into snack duty, fort building, or whatever other jobs my kids assign me).
Have a great week, and I hope you find some time to build something amazing.
– Brandon