Published on Nov 10, 2026
Can an opportunity exist simply because we have decided to call it one?
An odd question, perhaps. After all, opportunities are real. Markets expand, companies invest, needs emerge, and somewhere in that movement, there must be business to be won.
But how do we know that business is ours to pursue?
Imagine a pharmaceutical manufacturer announcing a major expansion. Exciting news, especially if your organisation supplies something that manufacturer might need.
The company looks promising, so someone adds it to the pipeline. And there it is. An opportunity.
Or is it?
We know the company is expanding, but what does that tell us about its willingness to change suppliers, adopt a new technology, or reconsider an established process?
Very little, actually.
Yet the moment we call something an opportunity, we begin treating it differently. It acquires a value, a probability, and a place in the forecast. It becomes something to advance.
And here is the curious part: the more effort we invest in pursuing it, the harder it may become to question whether we should have pursued it at all.
Perhaps you recognise the situation. Months of conversations, technical teams involved, proposals refined, everyone working hard. Then comes the disappointing realisation: the customer was never really in a position to act.
Was this a failure of selling? Or did the problem begin much earlier?
There is something fascinating about the way organisations develop confidence in an opportunity.
Initially, the evidence may be limited, but as conversations progress and resources are committed, the opportunity begins to acquire a life of its own: a forecast has been prepared, expectations have been established, and people have invested their time.
Questioning the opportunity now may feel like questioning all that effort. But has anything actually changed about its commercial viability?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
The uncomfortable possibility is that our confidence has grown faster than our understanding. And that brings us to a different question: What would we need to know to justify pursuing this opportunity?
This is where targeted commercial research can make a difference.
We tend to associate market research with formal studies, extensive reports, and specialised analysis, but commercial professionals encounter valuable information every day, often without recognising its potential.
A customer conversation, a competitor's announcement, or a shift in market demand can offer a starting point for investigation. The challenge is understanding what that information tells us, what remains uncertain, and whether our conclusions are justified.
An expansion is a fact. An opportunity is an interpretation.
And between the two lies something we rarely examine closely enough: our own reasoning.
Consider two experienced professionals looking at the same market development. One sees an attractive opportunity; the other sees a reason for caution. Both may have the same facts.
So why do they reach different conclusions?
Experience sharpens our judgment, but it also shapes what we expect to see. Familiar patterns can lead us toward conclusions we no longer think to question.
How do we know when experience is guiding our judgment, and when it is quietly limiting it?
Even perfectly accurate information can lead to mistaken conclusions if we fail to question our interpretation. This is why the real value of commercial research lies not simply in what we discover, but in how that discovery informs our decisions.
It is not necessarily about conducting more research. It is about asking more purposeful questions, recognising what deserves closer examination, and understanding when the evidence is sufficient to support a decision.
In life sciences, where commercial decisions may involve complex stakeholder relationships and demanding adoption processes, that distinction can be particularly consequential.
A promising signal deserves attention, but attention is not yet commitment. Research, used thoughtfully, can help us distinguish between the two.
Perhaps that is where smarter selling truly begins: not with a better answer to How do we win this business? but with a better understanding of Why should we pursue it?
How can we become more deliberate in the way we identify and evaluate commercial opportunities? Smarter Selling Through Market Research, an IPI Academy live online workshop on 24 February 2027, introduces a practical approach to examining assumptions, interpreting everyday market information, and making informed commercial decisions. Participants apply these ideas to their own commercial situations and progressively develop a Commercial Research Brief they can use beyond the workshop.
Nicole Lambert