Industry research · Marketing
We are entering a sector we do not know, and we want to read it before we spend.
You may be a fabricator looking at solar, a clinic group looking at diagnostics, or a software firm looking at schools. You know your own trade, not theirs. Who decides, who only advises, which trade body sets the tone, which month the orders arrive: nobody has written it down for you.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Industry research is a written picture of one sector: how goods or services move from maker to end user, who buys and who influences the purchase, and where competitors sit. GullySales builds it from named public sources, trade bodies and publications, and gives you a document that marks what is established and what is still a guess.
Industry research puts that on paper before you hire, stock or advertise. It maps the value chain from raw input to final buyer, names the associations and publications the sector reads, and shows how the sector calendar affects demand. It explains the rules in general terms and says which of them need your own adviser.
It is desk work with named sources, plus a few calls to people in the sector when a gap needs one. If you need buyers interviewed, that is market research. If you need a count of buyers or a revenue estimate, that is market sizing and opportunity assessment. If the question is what one rival does, that is competitive intelligence.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- A manufacturer adding a product for a sector it has never sold to
- A software or services firm repositioning from general customers to one sector
- An owner opening a clinic, school, hotel or shop in a trade that is new to the family
- A distributor deciding which sector deserves a dedicated salesperson
- A founder preparing a sector section for a lender, partner or board
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want market-size or growth figures to quote. We do not invent them, and we point to the published source instead.
- You need buyers interviewed or a price test. That is primary research, a different piece of work.
- You want legal or licensing advice for the sector. Your own adviser or a specialist gives that.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“We keep getting the sector's language wrong”
Your quotation says dealer where the sector says channel partner, or lists a spec the buyer never asks for. Prospects notice in the first email.
“I do not know who actually signs the order”
In a hospital the doctor asks for the product, the purchase manager negotiates and the trustees approve. You pitched one of them.
“We missed the buying season”
Budgets, festivals, academic years or harvests set when this sector buys. You launched after the window closed.
“Every report online says something different”
Each source defines the sector its own way, so figures cannot be put side by side. You need someone to reconcile the definitions, not add another report.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Sector definition note
A page fixing what is in and out of the sector, with the national industrial classification code where one applies. It stops two sources being compared when they count different things.
Value chain map
A diagram and notes from input supplier to maker, distributor, dealer and end buyer. It shows who sets terms, who holds stock and who pays whom.
Buyer and influencer map
The roles in a typical purchase: user, specifier, approver, payer, and advisers such as architects, consultants or doctors. Each has a note on what that role checks.
Source register
Every document used, with publisher, date and what it covers. Trade bodies, chambers, government statistics, standards bodies and sector publications are listed so your team can reread them.
Sector calendar
Budget cycles, trade fairs, festivals, monsoon or academic-year effects, drawn as a year. Gaps in the evidence are marked.
Rules summary
The licences, standards and certification schemes that apply, in general terms and with the issuing body named. It flags what to check with your adviser.
Competitor placement chart
Who serves which part of the value chain, by price tier, region and route to market. It places rivals; the detailed teardown is a separate service.
Assumptions and open questions list
Each claim tagged as sourced, reported by a person in the sector, or our reading. It tells you what to test before money moves.
How the result is measured
- Sources named and dated for each section
- Claims tagged as sourced, reported or our reading
- Roles in the buying decision identified
- Calendar gaps and open questions listed
- Competitors placed in the value chain
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Industry research: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Bring a recent won order and an enquiry that went nowhere. Trace how each buyer found you, what they asked, and who handled the next step. A channel list alone will not explain the difference.
Make the scope clear
Choose one offer and one buyer group first. Agree which part needs attention: being found, getting a useful enquiry, or turning an enquiry into an order. Separate recommendations from the work required to carry them out.
Check the work in use
A useful plan names the first change, its owner, the evidence behind it, and the number that will show whether it worked. Ask what has deliberately been left out and why.
Know when to change course
If your team cannot answer the enquiries it already receives, improve that handover before buying more traffic. If the offer itself is unclear, test it with buyers before adding channels.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the industry research work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Question and boundary
You send the requirements brief and we talk through why you are looking at this sector. The written scope fixes the sector definition, the decision it serves and the sources we will not use.
- 2
Source gathering
We collect government classifications and datasets, standards-body pages, trade association material and sector publications. Each goes into the source register as we read it.
- 3
Mapping
We draw the value chain, the buyer and influencer roles and the calendar. Where sources disagree, the document shows both and says why.
- 4
Sector checks
A small number of calls to people who work in the sector test the map: a dealer, a stockist, a procurement person. Their remarks are labelled as individual views.
- 5
Review and handover
We walk you and your sales owner through the document. You choose whether to proceed, run market research or sizing next, or drop the idea.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Spend an afternoon on what the sector already publishes before paying anyone to read it for you.
- Write one sentence saying which sector you mean and which products or services are inside it.
- Find the sector's trade association and read its member list, events page and any published notes.
- List the two or three publications the sector reads, and read the last few issues.
- Ask a dealer, stockist or procurement person in the sector who really decides a purchase.
- Note the months when the sector buys, and the trade fairs it attends.
- Write down what you still cannot answer, so the research is aimed at those gaps.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Which sources will you use, and will each be named and dated in the document?
- How do you mark a claim that comes from one person rather than a published source?
- How will you handle two sources that define the sector differently?
- Will you give a market-size figure, and if so, whose is it?
- Which parts of the rules summary should my own adviser check?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 0, foundation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will you tell us how big the sector is?
How is this different from market research?
Is this the same as competitive intelligence?
Do you explain the rules and licences for the sector?
What do you need from us, and what does it cost?
Can this lead into a market entry plan?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Industry research, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.