Entrepreneurship. Rhonda Abrams
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Название: Entrepreneurship
Автор: Rhonda Abrams
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Поиск работы, карьера
isbn: 9781933895673
isbn:
ENTREPRENEUR’S WORKSHEET
Types of Industry Information to Research
From this list of suggested industry topics, select which issues you will focus on.
☐ General industry overview and analysis
☐ Key technological, sociological, distribution, or other factors dramatically affecting your industry
☐ Current and historical financial performance of the industry, including:
— Total revenues, overall and by product lines, if possible
— Total number of units sold, by product lines, if possible
— Total profits and average profit margins
— Growth rates over the past few years
☐ Companies in the industry, including:
— Total number of companies
— Leading companies in the industry
— Total employment in the industry
— Market share distribution of each company
☐ Industry’s performance in relation to your target market (geographic and demographic), including:
— Total revenues and profits from that target market
— Number of companies serving that target market and market leaders
— Trends relating to that target market
☐ Impact of seasonal changes and economic cycles on the industry
☐ Trends and forecasts, especially the projected future growth rate of the industry
☐ Industry resources, including major suppliers and vendors, trade publications, associations, and research companies
FINDING MARKET DATA HELPS YOU
Determine the size of a market and whether it’s large enough to sustain your business.
Understand the characteristics of your potential customers, what motivates them, what they buy, and where and how they buy.
Gain insight into the trends affecting your target market so you’ll be better prepared to respond to future changes in the market.
Become more aware of your customers’ preferences, actions, and tastes, especially in response to your specific product or service.
Market research
“Will the dog eat the dog food?” This well-known quote comes from famed entrepreneur and venture capitalist Eugene Kleiner, one of the founders of Silicon Valley. In short, Kleiner’s question asks: Will customers actually buy what you sell? You must find out what dogs like, meaning put the bowl in front of Fido. You must do some market research.
While the term “market research” most often applies to original research about potential or current customers, you engage in market research any time you seek data about your target market. For example, you conduct market research when you look for census data about the geographic area in which you plan to run a business or launch a product.
From a business perspective, conducting primary market research—by interacting with prospective customers directly—often provides critical insight into whether customers truly want your product or service. If you plan to introduce an organic dog food, for instance, you could do a great deal of secondary research and still not find crucial information. You could determine the number of dogs in the market, the sales figures for all dog food, the sales figures and trends for organic pet food, and so on. But you’d still want to know, “Will the dog eat my dog food?”
Know thy customers
Early in your entrepreneurial venture, you need to clearly define your customers, as many of the decisions you make about your business will follow from knowing who they are. Chapter 5, which focuses entirely on the topic of customers and target markets, provides further, in-depth guidance to help you identify your customers.
HOW TO CONDUCT YOUR OWN MARKET RESEARCH
Some of the most important information you need will not be available from any published source, particularly information that’s quite specific to your market or new product. To obtain this data, you will have to undertake your own primary research. You have several means to choose from.
■ Personal observation. One fundamental way to gather information—and also one of the easiest—is through personal observation. Watching what goes on in other businesses or the way people shop gives you insight into factors affecting your own business. You can observe automobile-traffic and foot-traffic patterns near a selected location, how customers behave when shopping in businesses similar to yours or for similar products, and how competitors market or merchandise their products or services. You can also observe research subjects interacting with your product by inviting individuals to try your product before launch. Technology companies typically have user labs to find out how customers actually use their products. Personal observation is a vital tool in your planning process and is applicable for almost every business, large or small.
REAL-WORLD RECAP
Primary market research methods
■ Personal observation
■ Informational interviews
■ Surveys
■ Focus groups
■ Beta testing, samplings, and taste tests
■ Informational interviews. The second principal method of market research is informational interviewing. Since your own perceptions limit the amount of information you can garner from personal observation, you should talk with as many people as possible who can provide you with information relating to your business.
Some of these interviews may be highly structured. For instance, you might make personal appointments with those you want to interview and prepare a list of questions. In other cases, such as when you go into a competitor’s store and chat with a salesperson, your questions will appear to be more casual.
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