Specify
The people who set what a product has to do before it can be considered: engineers and technical specialists, at end users and at equipment makers.
What rules a product in or out before anyone talks about price.
B2B market research with the people who specify, buy, use and sell.
We reach each role in a business purchase, from the engineers who specify to the distributors who sell, for technology, industrial and food businesses.
One purchase, several people deciding.
A drawing: the org chart of a company making one purchase, with an engineer who specifies, a function head who buys and an operator who uses ringed and named; a distributor who sells, outside the company; value-chain experts on a dotted ring around the whole; and beside it an interview roster, grouped by role, each interview marked as held.
5 to 16
In a Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers, buying groups had 5 to 16 people across up to four functions. So we plan the research around the roles your question depends on, and reach each one in the way that suits it.
Source: Gartner, “Gartner Sales Survey Finds 74% of B2B Buyer Teams Demonstrate ‘Unhealthy Conflict’ During The Decision Process”, press release, 7 May 2025; survey of 632 B2B buyers, August to September 2024.
Who we speak to in each role, and what they can tell you.
Buy
The people with the budget, who sign off the purchase: procurement, IT and office managers, owners and other business decision-makers.
How a purchase is justified, compared and approved.
Use
The people who work with the product every day: operators, technicians and specialist professionals, met at work where we can.
What the job asks of the product, and what makes a brand credible to them.
Sell
The people between you and your customer: distributors, dealers and retailers, and your own sales team.
How product moves to market, and what customers ask for when they buy.
Around the purchase
Value-chain experts: people who know how a market works, from regulators and industry bodies to founders, analysts and specialists.
Who decides, how product moves and where the relationships are. Experts can’t tell you what buyers will choose, so we speak to the buyers too.
Who decides changes from one market to the next.
Roles reached: Use.
Speaking credibly to a community of professional arborists
An outdoor equipment maker sold to arborists, who climb and work in trees for a living. We met them in four countries, at climbing competitions and on site, where we watched them at work. The playbook set out a segmentation of arborists, illustrated communication principles and long-term roadmaps.
What happened next
The business chose its development path from one of the roadmaps, and the brand later launched new products.
Roles reached: Specify, use and sell.
Understanding how users choose between industrial equipment brands
An industrial technology company sold its equipment under several brands, and wanted to know how users choose between them. We heard from its own sales team, surveyed users in four regions and interviewed engineers at end users and equipment makers.
A view of the brand portfolio for division leadership, built from users’ and engineers’ own accounts.
Roles reached: Buy.
Prioritizing markets and buyers for a B2B software company
A B2B software company needed to know which markets to prioritize, which companies to target and who decides inside them. With a research partner, we surveyed sustainability decision-makers and influencers in three markets to compare them, and interviewed decision-makers to trace how a purchase moves through a company.
A market prioritization, an ideal customer profile by product and market, and buyer personas for the founders.
Three questions B2B teams ask.
Could we ask our customers ourselves?
Sometimes, and your own sales conversations are a good place to start. Independent research helps when three things matter. Candor: people speak more freely to someone who isn’t selling to them, about your product and about the alternatives. Coverage: your contacts are often the buyers, and the engineer who specifies, the operator and the distributor may never meet your sales team. Confidentiality: we can ask without naming you, so a market hears your question without learning your plans.
How many interviews does B2B research need?
Enough to cover the roles your question turns on, in each market it covers; not every question needs every role. On this page, that meant engineers for the technical view behind a choice of brand, arborists met at work in four countries, and a survey of decision-makers in three markets where a number was needed.
When is B2B research the wrong choice?
When your sales conversations already reach the people who decide and answer the question; when candor, coverage and confidentiality don’t matter for it; or when nothing is waiting on the answer.
Selling to businesses, and not sure who decides?
Send us the question and the market. We’ll say whose view it depends on, and whether interviews, a survey or both would answer it.
A partner or director will reply.