In today’s fast-paced business world, many business owners don’t have time to listen to sales pitches. But they do have time to listen to someone who understands their issues and can offer a solution that will save them time and money. Understanding a business owner’s needs is a key component of selling in the modern business world.

Given this, it’s easy to see that research is a top priority for any salesperson that wants to be successful. The good news is that much of the research has already been done and is available on the First Research website.

First research contains profiles for over 200 industries that are updated on a quarterly basis. What do these profiles contain?

Industry Overview: First, there is an industry overview which covers areas such as products, sales and marketing, and human resources. This overview lays the foundation for understanding the industry.

Monthly News and Quarterly Developments: Next is a monthly news section, containing links to several articles regarding the industry. Combining this with the quarterly trends section (which follows the monthly news) will keep a salesperson informed about the latest industry developments.

Business Challenges: This section describes how trends in the overall economy can affect this particular industry. A good example (if a bit obvious) would be how fluctuating fuel costs have had a huge impact on the transportation industry. There are many less obvious challenges that this portion of the profile explains.

Trends and Opportunities: What is true about life itself is also true about the business world: there is nothing more constant than change. Technology is constantly evolving and it affects many aspects of the business world. New trends and opportunities arise all the time, and this part of the profile reflects this. The opportunities section can alert a salesperson about new potential business opportunities as they are created.

Executive Insight: As the name implies, this section focuses on the main concerns of the important executives that work for a company in the industry (CEO, CFO, etc.). Understanding their specific concerns will allow a salesperson to tailor their presentation to address a particular executive’s needs.

Call Preparation Questions: Obviously, obtaining industry-specific information is not enough to learn the needs of a particular company. The list of questions in this section are a great help towards learning those needs and also allows the salesperson to begin developing a relationship with a potential client. Questions are designed to touch upon various aspects of the company and some questions are geared towards specific executives.

Financial Information/Industry Forecast/Opportunity Rating: These last sections given insight into financial data for the industry. The opportunity rating is based on an estimate of industry performance vs. industry risk.

Click here to visit the First Research website and see if you can benefit from their wealth of information.

(Acknowledgements: This article was written using information obtained from the First Research website as well as information provided by Shanna Barlow.)