How to analyze your target market before prospecting

Research before spending: the market analysis that separates teams who sell from those who improvise

Commercial Intelligence · Sep 2025 · 6 min read

Key Takeaways

Analyzing your target market before prospecting saves weeks of unproductive work and multiplies your conversion rate up to 3x
62% of sales teams do not research the market before launching campaigns — and that is why they waste budget
Vonsel: 200 businesses free to try; paid plans from 18 EUR/month before tax.

Foundation

What is a target market in B2B sales?

Your target market is the group of companies most likely to buy your product or service. It is defined by industry, size, location, needs, and purchasing power. Industry reports like Grand View Research's real estate market analysis help quantify the size of specific verticals. Without this definition, your prospecting is a shot in the dark.

According to Gartner, teams that analyze their market before prospecting are 47% more likely to hit their sales quota. It is not magic: it is preparation.

Market analysis is not an academic exercise. It is the difference between calling 100 companies and closing 2, or calling 30 and closing 5. Less effort, more results. That is commercial intelligence applied. Mordor Intelligence's residential real estate market report is a good example of the depth of analysis available for any sector.

62%

of sales teams do not analyze their market before prospecting

— Source: Gartner Sales Research, 2025

47%

more likely to hit quota with prior market analysis

conversion rate improvement after market segmentation

28%

reduction in customer acquisition cost

Method

4 steps to analyze your target market

Guesswork and intuition

Contact random companies hoping some will buy. No data behind decisions.

Efficiency15%

Industry reports (top-down)

Generic sector data with no local granularity. Good for context, bad for execution.

Efficiency35%

Manual web research

High quality per company but painfully slow. 5-10 companies per hour.

Efficiency45%

Recommended

Data-driven market mapping

Search Google Maps and press Start. Vonsel gathers the business results as you explore the map, going beyond the pins you can see at a glance. Pause, continue and save your search when you are ready. Google Maps does not provide business emails. Vonsel visits the available business websites to find published emails, additional phone numbers and links to up to 118 supported social networks and other platforms. What it finds depends on what each website publishes. Keep businesses on a map, organise them by stage, edit their details and use a Kanban board, calendar, notes, actions, tags and custom fields. Free holds 20 businesses unlocked. Start holds 200, Grow 800, Pro 4,000 and Scale 20,000.

Efficiency94%

Map your target market in minutes

Search Maps, collect published website contacts and organise your prospects in the CRM. Free extraction covers 200 businesses; AI and export depend on your plan.

Start Free

Without prior analysis

You call any company in the sector
No idea if there are 50 or 5,000 in your area
Spend weeks on prospects without budget
Conversion rate below 2%

→

With market analysis

You know the exact TAM per area
Prioritize segments with highest potential
Only contact companies matching your ICP
Conversion rate of 5-8%

Analysis

What metrics to look at in your market analysis

Calculate market size (TAM)

How many companies exist in your target sector and area? Use the Google Maps Scraper to see the real number.

Segment by relevant criteria

Segment by size, industry, and location. Not all companies in your market are equal.

Identify opportunity signals

Look for companies with high activity (many reviews, active digital presence). They are the ones growing fast.

Validate with real contact data

The most expensive mistake in B2B sales is not losing a client — it is chasing the wrong one for months. Prior market analysis eliminates that risk before you spend a single dollar on prospecting.

Data

Key metrics for your market analysis

It is not enough to know how many companies exist. You need to understand market quality. Fortune Business Insights' cleaning services market report demonstrates how granular industry data reveals both size and growth trajectory:

Metric	What it tells you	How to get it
Number of companies in area	Real market size (TAM)	Google Maps Scraper by sector + city
Average Google rating	Competition and market quality level	Data included in Vonsel
% with own website	Digital maturity of the sector	Vonsel data filter
% with active social media	Available channels for outreach	Social profiles in Vonsel
Geographic density	Whether to focus local or distributed	GPS CRM map

Prospecting without analyzing your market is like shooting with your eyes closed: you waste ammo without hitting the target

Checklist: Have you analyzed your market?

You know the exact number of companies in your target sector/areaYou have segmented by size, location, and activityYou have identified which segments have the highest potentialYour contact data is verified and up to dateYou have a clear ICP based on real data

Need market data? Map your market with Vonsel

In Summary

Analyzing your market before prospecting multiplies conversion by 3x and reduces acquisition cost by 28%
62% of teams skip this step — and waste weeks contacting companies that will never buy
Vonsel: 200 businesses free to try; paid plans from 18 EUR/month before tax.

Know your market before spending a dollar

Search Maps, collect published website contacts and organise your prospects in the CRM. Free extraction covers 200 businesses; AI and export depend on your plan.

Start Free

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a target market in B2B sales?

A B2B target market is the specific group of companies most likely to buy your product or service. It is defined by criteria like industry, company size, geographic location, specific needs, and purchasing power. Analyzing it before prospecting lets you focus resources on companies that will actually convert.

How do I know how many companies are in my target market?

You can calculate market size using tools like Vonsel. Select the industry and geographic area you are interested in and get the real number of active companies, along with verified contact data. This gives you a TAM based on real data, not estimates.

How much time should I spend on market analysis before prospecting?

Ideally 1-2 days for the initial analysis. With the right tools, you can map your target market in a few hours: identify how many companies exist per area, which segments have the most potential, and where to focus. This upfront investment saves weeks of unproductive prospecting.