- Privacy and terms.
- This workflow processes personal data about named people.
- Under UK/EU GDPR you need a lawful basis (for example legitimate interests, which needs a three-part test), and when you collect data about someone from other sources you must tell them within a reasonable period and no later than one month.
- Other countries have their own rules; check with whoever handles privacy for you.
- Do not scrape LinkedIn or X: LinkedIn's User Agreement bans scraping profiles, and X's Terms ban crawling or scraping without written consent.
- Stick to the company's own website, news and official filings, and focus the brief on the company, not the person's private life.
You will need
- A form or CRM that can send a webhook when a lead arrives (this example uses HubSpot)
- n8n: n8n Cloud (paid after a free trial) or the free self-hosted Community edition
- An OpenAI API key for the web search tool (billed per use)
- A privacy check: a lawful basis for processing lead data and an updated privacy notice (see warning)
You will end up with
- A one-page brief on the lead's company, with a source link for every fact
- The brief saved on the CRM record before the first call
Check you are allowed to do this
Before building anything, confirm your lawful basis for researching leads and that your privacy notice says you do it. If you rely on legitimate interests, write down the three-part test. People whose data you collect from other sources must be told within a month.
Sources: ICO: Legitimate interests · ICO: Right to be informed
Human checkpoint. A person approves this step before the agent goes further.Trigger on new leads
Add an n8n Webhook node and point your form or CRM's new-lead webhook at it. Pass only what you need: company name, company website, the person's name and job title.
Sources: n8n docs: Webhook node
Research the company with sourced web search
Use an HTTP Request node to call the OpenAI Responses API with the web search tool, which returns answers with source citations. Limit the research to the company's website, news and official sources. Set the web search tool's filters.blocked_domains to linkedin.com, x.com and twitter.com so results cannot come from LinkedIn or X.
Sources: n8n docs: HTTP Request node · OpenAI API docs: Web search · LinkedIn User Agreement · X Terms of Service
Prompt Research [COMPANY] ([WEBSITE]) for a sales call. Return: what they sell, approximate size, and news from the last 90 days. After every fact, give the source URL. If you cannot find a fact, write 'not found'. Do not use LinkedIn or X. Do not include personal details beyond the contact's name and job title as given.
Save the brief to the CRM
Use the HubSpot node (its 'Create an engagement' operation) to attach the brief to the lead.
Sources: n8n docs: HubSpot node
Spot-check before the call
Before relying on a brief, open two or three of its source links. Delete briefs you no longer need, in line with your retention policy.
Human checkpoint. A person approves this step before the agent goes further.