Skill

Find Similar

Find companies or contacts similar to a reference entity using ZoomInfo's ML-powered similarity model — ranked lookalikes for TAM analysis, territory expansion, and prospecting.

Overview

The Find Similar skill uses ZoomInfo's machine learning similarity model to find companies or contacts that closely match a reference entity. Provide a company you've already won or a contact persona you're targeting, and the skill returns a ranked list of lookalikes — scored by how similar they are to the original, with pattern analysis to help you understand what the results have in common.

For companies, this is the fastest way to clone a successful ICP across your total addressable market. For contacts, it powers multi-threading within an account by finding people at a target company who match the profile of contacts you've successfully engaged before.

Both modes return up to 100 results by default, ranked by similarity score, with a summary of patterns across industry, geography, seniority, or company profile — so you can spot clusters and prioritize outreach accordingly.

What It Does

Company lookalike discovery: Find companies similar to a reference by name, domain, or ZoomInfo company ID — ranked by ML similarity score
Contact lookalike discovery: Find contacts similar to a reference person by name + company, email, or ZoomInfo person ID — optionally scoped to a specific target account
Similarity scoring: Each result includes a score reflecting closeness to the reference entity, explained in terms of the reference attributes driving the match
Pattern analysis: Summarizes what the results have in common — dominant industries, geographies, seniority levels, or company sizes
TAM and territory expansion: Identify the full set of accounts that look like your best customers in new markets

Use Cases

ICP Cloning for Prospecting

Take a company you've closed or are currently working and find 50 similar accounts. The skill reveals lookalikes you may never have considered — companies with matching industry profiles, headcount bands, tech stacks, and growth trajectories — so you can expand your pipeline without starting ICP research from scratch.

Multi-threading Within a Target Account

Given a champion or economic buyer you've successfully engaged at another company, find similar contacts at your target account. Scope results to a specific company to discover who in that organization matches the same persona — ideal for expansion plays or navigating an unfamiliar org chart.

TAM and Territory Analysis

Use a handful of your best-fit customers as seeds and run similarity searches to map the full landscape of accounts that share their profile. Use the pattern analysis to understand which verticals, geographies, or company types are most densely represented in your addressable market.

Skill Definition

The raw markdown Claude uses when this skill is invoked.

---
name: find-similar
description: Find companies or contacts similar to a given reference. Provide a company name/domain or a person's name/email and get a ranked list of lookalikes scored by similarity. Useful for territory expansion, TAM analysis, competitive mapping, expanding buyer networks, and building targeted prospecting lists.
---

# Find Similar

Find companies or contacts similar to a reference entity using ZoomInfo's ML-powered similarity model.

## Input

The user will provide via `$ARGUMENTS`:
- **For companies**: a company name, domain, or ZoomInfo company ID
- **For contacts**: a person's name and company (e.g., "Jane Smith at Acme Corp"), email address, or ZoomInfo person ID
  - Optionally: a target company to scope results to (e.g., "at Microsoft" or "within Salesforce")
  - Optionally: how many results they want (defaults to 25, max 100)

Determine whether the user is looking for similar **companies** or **contacts** based on what they provide, then follow the appropriate workflow below.

---

## Company Workflow

1. **Lookup metadata first** — before calling any other MCP tool, use `lookup` to load reference data for any fields relevant to the request. Use the returned `id` values (not display names) in all subsequent API calls.

2. **Find similar companies** using `find_similar_companies`. This returns up to 100 results ranked by similarity score.
   - If you have a ZoomInfo company ID, pass `companyId`.
   - If you only have a company name, pass `companyName` — the API can resolve it directly.

### Company Output Format

**Similar companies to [Reference Company Name]:**

| Rank | Company | Industry | Employees | Revenue | Country | Similarity Score |
|------|---------|----------|-----------|---------|---------|-----------------|
| 1 | | | | | | |
| 2 | | | | | | |
| ... | | | | | | |

Show the top 25 by default. If the user asks for more, show up to 100.

After the table:
- Note the total number of similar companies returned
- Call out any patterns (e.g., "heavily weighted toward mid-market SaaS in North America")
- Suggest next steps: use `/zoominfo:enrich-company` to get full details on any result, or `/zoominfo:find-buyers` to identify contacts at a target

---

## Contact Workflow

1. **Lookup metadata first** — before calling any other MCP tool, use `lookup` to load reference data for fields relevant to interpreting the results:
   - `lookup` with `fields: [{"fieldName": "management-levels"}, {"fieldName": "departments"}, {"fieldName": "job-functions"}]`
   - Use the returned `id` values (not display names) in all subsequent API calls and for categorizing results.

2. **Resolve the reference person** if the user did not provide a ZoomInfo person ID:
   - If the user gave an email → use `enrich_contacts` with `email` to get the person's ZoomInfo person ID.
   - If the user gave a name and company → use `enrich_contacts` with `firstName`, `lastName`, and `companyName` to get the person's ZoomInfo person ID.
   - If enrichment fails, fall back to `search_contacts` with `fullName` and `companyName` to find a match.
   - Extract the ZoomInfo person ID from the result.

3. **Resolve the target company** if the user specified one:
   - Use `search_companies` with `companyName` or `companyWebsite` to get the ZoomInfo company ID — use lookup `id` values for any filters.

4. **Find similar contacts** using `find_similar_contacts` with:
   - `referencePersonId`: the resolved ZoomInfo person ID (required)
   - `targetCompanyId`: the resolved ZoomInfo company ID (only if the user specified a target company)
   - `pageSize`: user-specified count or 25

### Contact Output Format

#### Reference Person
**[Full Name]** — [Title] at [Company]
Brief profile summary: department, management level, job function. This anchors the similarity analysis.

#### Similar Contacts

| Rank | Name | Title | Company | Department | Management Level | Score |
|------|------|-------|---------|------------|-----------------|-------|
| 1 | | | | | | |
| 2 | | | | | | |
| ... | | | | | | |

Show the top 25 by default. If the user asks for more, show up to 100.

For each contact, use the `meta` field from the response to explain WHY they are a match. The meta describes the reference person used to form the similarity — use this to connect the recommendation back to the reference person's attributes.

#### Pattern Analysis
- **By Title/Function**: What roles dominate the results? (e.g., "Heavily weighted toward revenue operations and sales leadership")
- **By Seniority**: What management levels appear most? Use the lookup values to categorize accurately.
- **By Company Profile**: What types of companies do these contacts work at? (e.g., "Mostly mid-market SaaS, 200-1000 employees")
- **If scoped to a target company**: Note which departments and levels within that company have the strongest matches.

After the table:
- Note the total number of similar contacts returned
- Call out any patterns in the results
- Suggest next steps: use `/zoominfo:enrich-contact` to get full details on any result, or `/zoominfo:find-buyers` to identify other contacts at a specific company from the list

Install Plugin

This skill runs via the ZoomInfo MCP plugin for Claude Code.

Get Plugin on GitHub

Created by

Rowan Bailey

Senior Director, Product

Provided by

ZoomInfo ↗

Capabilities

ML-powered similarity scoring for companies and contacts
Ranked lookalike lists (up to 100 results)
Company similarity for TAM and territory expansion
Contact similarity scoped to a target account
Pattern analysis across industry, size, and persona dimensions