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Clay Account Research Reports
Automation guide: Clay š Zapier š Google Docs š Slack
Hey, Claymakers!
Account research can take A LOT of time.
This is true for SDRs, Account Executives, and even Customer Success.
Itās one of the most common inefficiencies that I hear from RevOps and Sales Leaders in weekly conversations.
Todayās 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:
Letās dive in.
But, first - if you arenāt 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 weāll use to fill variables in the Google Docs template.
Iāll 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 canāt be any spaces such as
Mine looks like this (pardon my horrendous design skillsā¦):
3. Setup HTTP API > Zapier
Part 1:
Put the method to PUT.
Input the Zapier API Endpoint that youāll find in Zapier on the first step of the automation flow (more on that below)
HTTP API Example:
Part 2:
Now weāll 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:
{āVariableā: COLUMN}
Tip: if a column doesnāt have data, youāll want to flip the ārequiredā blue switch. This means that itās not required to run. If you donāt have it flipped, then youāll get a run error.
4. Zapier Workflow
Thereās multiple setups in the wizard that guides you. But ultimately, you do the following:
Send test data to the Zapier webhook
Authenticate into Google
Define the action event (in this case its āCreate Document from Templateā)
Map data to the variables
Test
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:
Automate all your manual research
Send that into Zapier
Zapier creates a report
Zapier sends you a Slack notification
Hereās an example report:
Around the Kiln
What Iāve 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 CEOās 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 Poyarās LinkedIn content and newsletter, Growth Unhinged.