Industrial sales research guides and templates

Choose the starting point that matches what you already have. Aim for the first useful output below, then use the specialist guides and downloads further down this page when that task needs them.

I have a product range, but no agreed account brief.

Define which companies belong. First output: a written brief covering activity, customer role, territory, exclusions and evidence rules. Use the guide’s blank ICP worksheet before sourcing names.

I have a brief and need to assemble a manufacturing shortlist.

Build and review a candidate list. First output: separate include, hold and reject decisions, with company/site distinctions and a next check for each hold—not a raw row count.

I know my product, but not who buys or specifies it.

Choose the customer route for pump and flow-control research. First output: a supplier-fit brief that distinguishes equipment builders, operators and service routes, with unresolved responsibility questions. Use the OEM, distributor or MRO guide below for the relevant specialist check.

I have received a prospect list and need to challenge it.

Start the supplied-batch review. First output: a reconciliation of distinct companies, duplicates, holds and inclusion reasons. Work the fictional batch and answer key before applying the blank audit tools to a permitted real list.

I already use a list, but an underlying fact or rule has changed.

Reopen the affected account decision. First output: a review event stating what changed, the evidence, the retain/hold/correct/remove decision and the next check. This is not a new list or an automatic refresh schedule.

I need to understand the record I would commission.

Inspect the fictional account-research sample. First output: the fields, evidence distinctions and unknowns you want to discuss in a delivery specification. Then compare the service and written-scope questions below; the sample is not proof of a client result.

Advanced task: allocate the next research block

Already screened the accounts, but have more open questions than research time? Prioritise research actions across industrial accounts. First output: a bounded action queue with estimates, reasons for selection or deferral, and remaining evidence gaps. This allocates analyst work; it does not rank sales prospects or validate a buying-intent score. The worked queue comes before the blank CSV’s field instructions.

Not sure which tool is needed for an assignment? Review the company-level research service and scope. No worksheet itself confirms account acceptance, source-use permission or authority to contact a person.

• Define an industrial ideal customer profile — agree role, territory, exclusions and evidence rules before sourcing; includes a blank brief worksheet.
• Compare industrial lookalike accounts — decide which seed-profile similarities matter; includes a blank candidate comparison worksheet.

Start here if you have a product range and territory but need a defensible way to decide which companies belong on the list.

• Map food makers, brand owners and packers — separate product, performed work and operating site; includes a blank segmentation worksheet and fictional comparisons.
• Irish manufacturing account-research guide — turn a brief into research questions, distinguish company and site evidence, and decide what to include, hold or reject.
• Research Irish pharmaceutical manufacturing accounts — separate marketing authorisations, facility activities and engineering-service roles; includes a copyable facility-fit note and acceptance checklist.
• Evidence-question log (CSV) — keep the question, candidate source, permitted observation, unknowns and next check separate.

Map companies, groups, facilities and projects before counting — three linked blank sheets, separate fictional examples and readable instructions.

A company can fit an industry brief without an active project. Neither a sector label nor a matching product word establishes equipment suitability or buying intent.

Read the fixed fictional brief and exercise instructions first. These original teaching cards are not real companies, source quotations or regulatory classifications. Work the cards before opening the answer key; the blank worksheet contains headers only.

• Wholly fictional description cards (CSV)
• Separate fictional answer key (CSV)
• Blank description-screen worksheet (CSV)

Completing the exercise establishes neither account acceptance, source-use permission nor buying intent. For real source-record questions, use the pharmaceutical account-research guide.

Use the worked company, group, facility and project map and its field instructions before filling these sheets. Keep the blank templates separate from the wholly fictional practice data. No real prospects or personal contacts are supplied.

Download the editable identity mapping workbook (XLSX) to keep the three blank registers, separate fictional examples and offline review instructions together. Eight tabs; text-formatted IDs; no macros, formulas, external connections or automatic approval. Use a spreadsheet application and horizontal scrolling for the full field set. The blank workbook headers use record_context and evidence_statement; the separate CSV exercise headers are unchanged. Check the Start here tab before importing or exporting.

Blank templates

• Blank entity register (CSV)
• Blank relationship map (CSV)
• Blank evidence register (CSV)

Wholly fictional worked sheets

• Fictional entities (CSV)
• Fictional relationships (CSV)
• Fictional evidence cards (CSV)

Reconcile the sheets with the instructions and separate count views. A valid identifier is not proof that an evidence statement supports the claimed relationship.

Map water/wastewater responsibility before naming a buyer — separate operator, installer, integrator, supplier choice and order placement, with a blank worksheet and four fictional cases.

Use the supplier route before treating every company associated with a product as the same kind of prospect.

• Pump and flow-control prospecting guide — compare fictional OEM-component and operator-maintenance briefs, overlapping roles and evidence that changes the decision.
• Supplier-fit worksheet (CSV) — describe the range, application questions, customer role, territory and exclusions before account research.
• Build an Irish industrial distributor shortlist — separate account fit, mandatory support capabilities and unknown partnership availability; three fictional decisions and two worksheets.
• Map a component route into an Irish equipment build — connect component family, equipment and performed operation; distinguish supplied assemblies from separately ordered parts, with fictional maps and a blank tool.

Read Irish tender notices for supplier relevance — notice and lot triage, fictional investigate/hold/out-of-scope examples and a blank worksheet; not a feed of open work.

These tools help frame commercial research. They do not select equipment or confirm an accessible procurement package. For the project-evidence boundary, read what opportunity research adds.

Use a worked exercise before accepting a batch or treating every spreadsheet row as a distinct company.

Work through the fictional industrial prospect-list audit, then use its batch, answer key and acceptance worksheets to challenge duplicates, holds and inclusion reasons.

The audit page keeps the fictional batch, answer key and blank templates together, so the teaching decisions can be read alongside their rules. The exercise is not an approval of a real list or its source-use rights.

Prioritise research actions across industrial accounts — an original fictional worklist with estimates, ties, deferrals and changes after new evidence. This is action allocation across screened accounts, not another fit score or contact queue.

Blank research-action priority queue (header-only CSV). Zero data rows; no company or contact data, formulas or automatic decisions. Read the column guide and usage boundaries before adding one row per action. Mandatory unknowns remain unresolved regardless of queue position.

Industrial MRO account research — an original fictional service chain distinguishing inspection, repair labour, parts provision and replenishment questions. Use it when a maintenance label leaves the supplier route unresolved.

The blank worksheet contains headers only and zero data rows. One row records one fact or open question about a service boundary, not a company or maintenance event. The fictional chain stays in the guide; no contacts, formulas or automatic decisions are included.

Blank MRO service-scope worksheet (CSV)

Read the field definitions and row rules before use. Keep account fit, current need, installed assets, compatibility, purchasing authority and availability separate.

Resolve a conflicting field without accepting the whole account — one fictional account, five evidence cards, four review events and a blank resolution worksheet.

When the targeting brief, company identity, operating site or commercial role changes, reopen the affected decision instead of silently overwriting the original evidence.

• When to refresh an industrial prospect list — change triggers, a review workflow and fictional retain, hold, correct and remove decisions.
• Blank review-event log (CSV) — record the change, evidence references, reason, owner and next check. Several events can refer to one company; they are not extra accounts.

Choose review timing around the actual use and available evidence. The resource does not assume a universal refresh interval or list-decay percentage.

Compare a vendor sample with its selection frame — an original twelve-company fictional worksheet, omitted case types and the boundary before production acceptance.

Test an export before agreeing the handover — five fictional CSV files to check text identifiers, site links, unknowns and field meaning across a local re-export.

Inspect the fictional account-research sample before discussing a delivery specification. It separates identity, brief fit, source references, research class, project status and unknowns, with accepted and rejected teaching cases.

Download the blank account worksheet (CSV). The sample page also provides a field dictionary and fictional worked rows. These are educational examples, not the complete internal QA system or a promise that every field is available for every assignment.

Specify the research handover — compare acceptance tests, export usability, correction responsibilities and rights/exit questions. Includes a blank buyer checklist and three fictional working arrangements.

Named contacts, email addresses and outreach are not included by default. No worksheet clears permissions or authorises contacting a person.

• Irish PRTR data for industrial account research — reporting boundaries, date conflicts and the difference between a facility pointer and account fit.
• Irish water investment announcements: what suppliers can infer — keep programme funding, project evidence and equipment scope separate.
• An energy audit is not a pump order — distinguish audit findings, decisions and implementation without claiming equipment demand.

Read Irish environmental register evidence: bounded missing matches, dossier records, regulator objects and activity/discharge scope. Use it alongside the existing PRTR, water and pump guides.

Manual research aids, not source validators or evidence of an executed correction. Read the date dictionary and attribution and completed correction note before using them.

• Blank programme correction register (header-only CSV)
• Fictional correction register with four dependent outputs (CSV)

The linked date guide contains separately attributed catalogue-date examples and a fictional date-conflict exercise. The two downloadable registers contain original templates and fictional teaching material only.

The blank register is header-only. Add one row per dependent output, preserve versions, and verify each actual correction. All four fictional readbacks are explicitly NOT EXECUTED; expected teaching outcomes are not proof that a document changed. Unknowns stay unknown; analyst withdrawal is not an issuer correction.

Read the channel-screening instructions before using these files. The fixed teaching brief requires an Irish operation, industrial isolation-valve resale and workshop repair; stockholding is optional and retail-only businesses are excluded. These original examples contain no real companies or contacts.

• Blank channel-screening worksheet (header-only CSV)
• Three wholly fictional channel-screening decisions (CSV)

The blank file uses company_name and record_context; the example file uses fictional_company and example_status. Adapt the blank criteria to your agreed brief, keep yes/no/unknown distinct and record your reason and next question. Each tested fact has its own adjacent evidence-reference column; the overall source_reference is context only. There are no formulas or automatic checks. Retain means account criteria matched, not an available partner; exclusivity and willingness remain unknown in every fictional case. Source dates are deliberately blank because the cases are invented.

Read the OEM component-route instructions before completing this header-only worksheet. Use one row per fact or unresolved question, with its own evidence reference, source-use status and dates. Map labels are research questions, not evidence.

Download the blank OEM component-route tool (CSV)

No company or contact records, formulas or automatic acceptance decisions are supplied. Worked cases are wholly fictional and stay in the guide. Several evidence rows can belong to one company; they are not extra accounts.

Use the resources to describe the companies you need to understand, the unit you intend to count and the uncertainties you need resolved. Keep existing-customer exclusions and confidential records in your controlled workflow; do not send live customer lists through the enquiry form.

Comparing in-house and analyst-supported work? The buyer-owned research-effort worksheet lets you record your own workload and assumptions without supplied rates or savings promises.

Review the industrial research service for the make-versus-buy comparison, evidence boundaries and scoping questions. When the brief is clear, request a written scope. Counts, fields, timing and commercial terms remain subject to agreement.