PDF + Excel workbook
Is your UK prospect list good enough to use?
Audit a sample for company fit, contact evidence and freshness. Get a PDF checklist and an editable Excel review sheet.
Get the free guide ↗PDF + editable worksheet · Data & research
Who should you target in each UK sector?
Turn “we sell to UK SMEs” into a usable account brief. Includes research prompts for accountants, trades, retailers and hospitality.
The short answer
How do you turn a sector into a prospecting brief?
Define a customer problem your offer can solve, then select businesses where that problem could be relevant. Separate public facts from questions to ask. Choose a role and a contact route, and give the seller a clear exclusion rule as well as a reason to research.
Before you begin
What you will take away
Everyone searches a different version of the same broad sector and the resulting lists are difficult to compare.
- One campaign brief with a sector boundary, evidence checks and a relevant discovery question.
- PDF + editable worksheet. Four-page PDF with a reusable worksheet.
- Examples are illustrative and can be adapted to your sector.
- Use it with your current tools, then keep the next step on the company record.
01
Work through the problem
A good offer is sent to businesses with different needs, and the team cannot learn which segment is worth continuing.
1. Start with a job you help customers do
Name the operational problem in the customer’s words. “Reduce repeated client document chasing” is a testable starting point for an accountancy supplier. “Improve efficiency” is too broad to guide a list.
2. Set boundaries
Write the geography, trading activity, size and business model. Distinguish a single-site operator from a group. Add exclusions where your offer or delivery model does not fit.
3. Research accountants
Check the practice website for services, offices and the named team. Questions might cover client onboarding or document chasing. Do not infer team size or software problems from an industry code alone.
4. Research trades
Check service type, operating area and whether the firm works on domestic or commercial jobs. A useful conversation might cover quoting or missed enquiries. A registered office may be the accountant’s address.
5. Research retail
Distinguish an independent shop, ecommerce operator and chain. Check locations and how it sells. Ask about stock, enquiries or repeat-customer work only when your offer addresses that process.
6. Research hospitality
Distinguish venue type and ownership before approaching a restaurant, pub or hotel. Check the operating website and named group. Questions about bookings or multi-site administration are hypotheses to test, not facts about the business.
02
Worked example: stop mixing buyers
An agency provides photography for independent restaurants. Its first list mixes hotels, franchise branches and event caterers. It narrows the brief to independent dine-in venues within its travel area, checks the operator’s website and asks who plans seasonal menu updates. The new brief tells the researcher what to include and what to leave out.
Situation
Which service, venue or operating model does this business actually have?
Problem
Where might a customer of this type struggle with the job we support?
Implication
If that process is difficult, who feels the cost or delay?
Need-payoff
What would a useful improvement look like to that person?
03
Your working sheet
Use these fields to keep the facts, decisions and next actions together.
- Offer and customer problem
- Sector boundary and trading model
- Area, size and exclusions
- Facts available from original sources
- Questions still to ask
- Likely decision role and contact route
- Example opening question
- What we will measure for this segment
Before you use it
- The brief has observable selection criteria.
- The problem is written as a hypothesis until confirmed.
- The team can explain why an excluded company does not fit.
- Results will be compared within the same segment.
Common questions
Before you download
What files do I receive?
PDF + editable worksheet. The kit contains a four-page PDF and an editable text worksheet.
Do I need an Adapt account?
No. Use the worksheet with your existing tools. No account, payment or trial is required to download it.
Are these real customer examples?
No. Examples are illustrative. Adapt them to your own sector and check the facts before using them in a conversation.
Will I be added to a mailing list?
The request is saved so the team can understand which guide you requested. You can separately opt in to guides and product updates using the unchecked box on the form.
Sources
Where this comes from
The references support the underlying methods and checks. Examples and worksheets were written by Adapt Leads.
- Companies House company search ↗Check company identity, status, officers and filings against the original record.
- Huthwaite: SPIN questions ↗The original methodology explains Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-payoff questions. The examples here are Adapt Leads exercises.
Free download
Keep the guide to hand.
One campaign brief with a sector boundary, evidence checks and a relevant discovery question.
- Four-page PDF guide
- Reusable worksheet with practical checks
- Original examples to adapt to your sector
Free to use. No card or trial. See how the same work continues in Adapt.
Your download is ready
Keep your copy and put it to work.
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