Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
Ask the user:
- What do you need help with?
- a) Finding contacts / building prospect lists
- b) Enriching existing CRM records
- c) Setting up intent signals (Bombora)
- d) API integration / Data-as-a-Service
- e) Chrome Extension / Sales Companion setup
- f) CRM integration (Salesforce / HubSpot / Pipedrive / Dynamics)
- g) Something else
-
Which Cognism plan are you on?
- a) Grow (Platinum) — standard database, no Diamond Data
- b) Elevate (Diamond) — Diamond Data phone-verified + Bombora intent
- c) Not sure / evaluating
-
What's your primary market?
- a) UK / EMEA (Cognism's strongest coverage)
- b) North America (coverage exists but has gaps vs ZoomInfo)
- c) APAC / other (limited coverage)
- d) Global
Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
| Problem domain | Route to | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Building prospect lists across multiple tools | /sales-prospect-list |
/sales-prospect-list {user's question} |
| General enrichment strategy / waterfall enrichment | /sales-enrich |
/sales-enrich {user's question} |
| Interpreting buying signals / intent data strategy | /sales-intent |
/sales-intent {user's question} |
| CRM data quality / deduplication | /sales-data-hygiene |
/sales-data-hygiene {user's question} |
| Mapping buying committee at a target account | /sales-account-map |
/sales-account-map {user's question} |
| Connecting Cognism to other tools | /sales-integration |
/sales-integration {user's question} |
When routing to another skill, provide the exact command: "This is a {problem domain} question — run: /sales-{skill} {user's original question}"
If the question is Cognism-specific, continue to Step 3.
Step 3 — Cognism platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — modules, pricing, integrations, data model, workflows.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
If they're asking about the API, also read references/cognism-api-reference.md for endpoint details.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
You no longer need the platform guide — focus on the user's specific situation.
- For EMEA prospecting: Diamond Data is the key differentiator — phone-verified mobiles with 98% claimed accuracy and 22% connect rate. Prioritize it over standard data.
- For US prospecting: Cognism has gaps vs ZoomInfo in North America. Consider waterfall enrichment — use Cognism for EMEA, pair with ZoomInfo or Apollo for US.
- For intent signals: Bombora powers Cognism's intent data (Elevate plan only). Configure 8-15 topics relevant to your product. Combine with hiring/funding signals for composite scoring.
- For API integration: Search API finds contacts, Redeem API returns full data. Fair-use cap is ~2,000 records/user/month — plan batch operations around this.
- For CRM sync: HubSpot has 2-way sync (contacts, companies, tasks). Salesforce requires Professional+ plan. Set up exclusion lists to prevent re-enriching customers.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.
- Fair-use cap: "Unlimited" data access has a fair-use cap of ~2,000 records/user/month. Hitting it silently throttles access — plan bulk operations accordingly
- Diamond Data is Elevate-only: Phone-verified mobiles require the Elevate (Diamond) plan. Grow plan mobile numbers are not phone-verified and have significantly lower connect rates
- US coverage gaps: Cognism's EMEA data is industry-leading but US coverage has notable gaps vs ZoomInfo, especially for mid-market companies. Validate US data quality before committing
- Auto-renewal trap: Contracts auto-renew and notification emails reportedly go to spam. Calendar the renewal date immediately and negotiate 60+ days before expiration
- Salesforce edition requirement: Cognism does not integrate with Salesforce Essentials — you need Professional or above
- GDPR complaints: ICO has investigated complaints about Cognism data sourcing. If prospects mention receiving unsolicited calls from your team via Cognism data, escalate to compliance immediately
- Email pattern-guessing: Some email addresses are pattern-generated (firstname.lastname@domain) rather than verified. Run email validation through ZeroBounce or SafetyMails before large outbound campaigns
Related skills
/sales-enrich— General enrichment strategy, waterfall enrichment, credit optimization across all providers/sales-prospect-list— Building targeted prospect lists across Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Clay, and more/sales-intent— Interpreting buying signals, intent data strategy, account prioritization/sales-data-hygiene— CRM data quality, deduplication, record matching/sales-account-map— Mapping buying committees at target accounts/sales-zoominfo— ZoomInfo platform help (primary US competitor)/sales-apollo— Apollo platform help (affordable alternative)/sales-6sense— 6sense platform help (intent data competitor)/sales-do— Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do
Examples
Example 1: "My cold call connect rates in the UK are terrible — most numbers go to voicemail or gatekeepers" → Walks through Diamond Data setup, phone-verified mobile filtering, DNC list compliance, and connect rate optimization for UK outbound.
Example 2: "I need to enrich 5,000 contacts from our CRM with verified emails and phones before a campaign" → Covers CRM enrichment workflow, fair-use cap planning, HubSpot/Salesforce sync setup, and data validation steps.
Example 3: "We're evaluating Cognism vs ZoomInfo — our team sells into both US and Europe" → Compares regional coverage strengths, pricing models, Diamond Data vs ZoomInfo's data, and recommends a dual-provider strategy for global teams.
Troubleshooting
Phone numbers reaching gatekeepers instead of direct lines
- Cause: Using Grow plan standard mobiles instead of Diamond Data phone-verified numbers
- Fix: Upgrade to Elevate plan for Diamond Data. Filter searches to "Diamond verified" contacts only. For Grow plan, use the Chrome Extension on LinkedIn to find direct numbers one at a time
Enrichment data is outdated — contacts have left the company
- Cause: B2B data decays at ~30% annually. Cognism refreshes director-level data every 30 days, but not all records update at the same rate
- Fix: Set up scheduled CRM enrichment to auto-refresh records. Use job change alerts (Elevate plan) to catch movers. Cross-validate with LinkedIn before outreach to critical accounts
API Search returning fewer results than expected
- Cause: Fair-use cap (~2,000 records/user/month) or overly narrow filters
- Fix: Check monthly usage against fair-use limits. Broaden search filters — remove the most restrictive criterion first. For bulk needs, contact Cognism about DaaS packages with higher limits