Scout -- Sales intelligence

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Scout researches target companies and produces sales intelligence briefs for Me Learning. It answers one question: "Why should Me Learning talk to this company, and how do I start that conversation?"

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Open Scout in your browser.
Enter the access password and click Sign in.

You'll see the Scout home screen with the research form.

Note: Your session stays active between visits. You only need to sign in again if your session has expired.

Find your way around

The sidebar on the left is your main navigation. Here's what each section does:

Item	What it does
Scout	The home screen. Research a company or build a leads list.
Companies	View all companies you've researched or discovered.
Lists	View prospect lists you've generated.
Contacts	Browse all contacts found across every company.
Help	You're here now.

Research a company

This is Scout's core feature. It uses AI-powered web research to build a tailored sales brief for any target company.

Go to Scout and make sure the Research a company tab is selected.
Type the company name in the Company name field. This is the only required field.
Optionally, add a website, context, target roles, or sector to improve the results.
Click one of the three action buttons at the bottom of the form.

Understand the form fields

Field	Required	What it does
Company name	Yes	The company you want to research.
Website	No	Helps Scout find the right company, especially for common names.
Additional context	No	Steers the research. For example: "Focus on their compliance training needs."
Target roles	No	Comma-separated job titles. Scout will look for people in these roles.
Sector	No	Public sector, Private, Charity/NFP, or Not sure. Helps tailor the brief.

Choose an action

Button	What it does	Speed	Est. cost
Quick scout	Fast 2-section check: company profile and opportunity snapshot. Good for quickly deciding if a company is worth pursuing.	~10s	~$0.01
Full research	Complete 4-section sales brief with leadership contacts, talking points, and full opportunity analysis.	~30s	~$0.04
Find contacts	Looks up L&D, HR, and People contacts only. No research brief.	~5s	Free*
Full + contacts	Complete research brief plus contact lookup. The most thorough option.	~35s	~$0.04

Tip: Start with Quick scout to check if a company is worth pursuing. If it looks promising, click Run full research on the results page to upgrade without losing what you already have.

Note: *Contact lookup requires an Apollo.io API key. Without it, Scout will suggest a LinkedIn search instead.

Read your research brief

After you start a research, Scout streams results in real time. Each section appears as a card as it's generated.

What's in the brief

A typical brief includes these sections:

Company snapshot — size, sector, headquarters, and what they do.
Strategic priorities — what the company is focused on right now.
Training and L&D signals — evidence of learning and development activity or need.
Compliance and regulatory — relevant compliance requirements and obligations.
Me Learning fit — specific reasons Me Learning's products are a good match.
Conversation starters — suggested talking points and opening angles.
Key contacts — people to reach out to, with titles and context.
References — sources used during the research.

Note: Sections vary depending on the company. Scout adapts the brief based on what it finds.

Cached results

If you research a company that's been researched before, Scout shows a banner with two options:

Use this — load the previous research instantly.
Research again — run a fresh research with the latest information.

Ask follow-up questions

After a research brief is complete, you can ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into any topic.

Scroll to the bottom of the research brief.
Type your question in the Ask a follow-up field.
Click Go.

You'll see the answer appear below the research brief. You can ask as many follow-ups as you like.

Tip: Good follow-up questions are specific. For example: "Tell me more about their compliance setup" or "What procurement framework do they use?"

Find contacts

Scout can look up real contacts at a target company. Contacts appear as a table within the research brief and are also saved to the global Contacts screen.

View contacts for a company

Open a company's research brief from the Companies screen.
Scroll down to the Contacts section.

View all contacts

Click Contacts in the sidebar.
Use the search box to filter by name, title, email, or company.

Copy an email address

Click any email address in the contacts table. It copies to your clipboard automatically.

Important: Contact data comes from external sources and may not always be current. Verify details before reaching out.

Build a leads list

Leads lists let you describe a type of company and have Scout find matching organisations. This is useful for prospecting across a sector or region.

Go to Scout and click the Build a leads list tab.
Describe the companies you want to find. Be specific about sector, size, location, or other criteria.
Click Generate list.

You'll see a list of 10–20 matching companies. From there, you can click Scout on any company to run a full research brief.

Tip: The more specific your description, the better the results. Try "Housing associations in the Midlands with 500+ employees" rather than just "housing associations".

View your lists

Click Lists in the sidebar to see all prospect lists you've generated. Click any list to see its companies and research status.

Manage companies

The Companies screen shows every company you've researched or discovered through leads lists.

Search for a company

Use the search box at the top of the Companies screen to filter by name.

Understand the badges

Badge	What it means
Brief	A research brief exists for this company.
Contacts	Contacts have been found for this company.

Open a company

Click any company card that has a brief or contacts to view the full detail. Companies without data show a Scout button instead, which takes you to the research form with the company name pre-filled.

Export your work

After a research brief is complete, you have several export options at the bottom of the page.

Button	What it does
Copy all	Copies the entire brief as text to your clipboard. Useful for pasting into emails or documents.
Download .docx	Downloads the brief as a Word document. Ready to share or attach.
Export contacts (.csv)	Downloads all contacts for this company as a CSV file. Only visible when contacts exist.

Tip: The Word document includes all sections, follow-up answers, and contacts in a formatted layout.

Dark mode and settings

Switch to dark mode

Click the sun/moon icon in the bottom-left corner of the sidebar. Scout remembers your preference between sessions.

Sign out

Click Sign out in the bottom-left corner of the sidebar, next to the user avatar.

Tips for better results

Be specific with context

Adding context like "Focus on their apprenticeship programmes" or "They recently acquired XYZ" helps Scout prioritise what matters to your conversation.

Include the website

For companies with common names, adding the website URL helps Scout find the right organisation.

Set target roles

If you know who you want to speak to, add their job titles. Scout will prioritise finding people in those roles.

Choose the right sector

Selecting a sector helps Scout tailor the brief. Public sector briefs focus on frameworks and procurement. Private sector briefs focus on commercial drivers.

Use follow-ups

Follow-up questions are powerful. Use them to explore angles the initial brief didn't cover, or to get more detail on a specific section.

Write specific list queries

When building leads lists, include size, sector, location, and any other distinguishing criteria. "NHS trusts in the South East" works better than "healthcare companies".

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