You personally may be absolutely sure there’s a demand for your pots of home-dried herbs or landscape photographs, but it’s far less risky if you do some market research first.The main points to establish are:There are plenty of ways of carrying out your market research. It all depends on what type of business you’re going into and how much work you’re prepared to put in.Options include:

The Art Of Questioning

A lot of our market research will be about asking questions. How you ask is important because you need both co-operation and honest answers. If you start politely and pleasantly most people are happy to help as long as they know you’re not selling anything (not yet anyway). Unfortunately many people will tell you what they think you want to hear rather than what they really think. Make sure you frame your questions in such a way that this is less likely to happen. This means asking open questions, along the lines of:

‘How much are you prepared to spend on a case of wine/hand-built kitchen/dog walking service?’

Rather than a leading question:

‘Would you agree that £90 for a case of New Zealand sauvignon blanc is a reasonable price?’

How To Stop People On The Street

Stopping complete strangers on the street and asking them questions is an art. The first couple of times will be terrifying. But when your confidence begins to build and you relax you’ll start to enjoy it.

The trick to getting their co-operation is to explain briefly that you’re starting up a new business and wondered if they could spare a couple of minutes to help you with your research. Few people will refuse a direct appeal unless they’re in a tearing hurry.

When To Do It

• Don’t do surveys in the rain, cold or wind. People won’t stop and talk. Instead, hope for a balmy sunny day when people are more likely to linger.
• Don’t do surveys at the very beginning of the day. Most people on the streets then are in a hurry to get to work.
• Don’t do surveys at the end of the day. People are tired and want to go home.

Where To Do It

• Find a place where passers-by naturally slow down (successful hitchhikers use the same technique). This could be near a particularly good window display, under a large shop awning or in a traffic-free mews where it’s easier to linger. Slow them down even more by approaching them and making eye contact. But don’t get too close: you want their help, not frighten their children.
• People sitting on park benches or walls are an even easier target. They’re sitting down so they’re not in a hurry, and they won’t bother to get up and move unless they think you’re weird.
• Don’t go to places where people will be in a hurry. That means bus and railway stations at commuting time, car parks and outside supermarkets (all that frozen food defrosting).
• But outside commuting times, bus and railway stations are good because passengers are bored with waiting and happy to be distracted. You may get thrown off if you don’t ask permission from the authorities first, but they’re not going to lock you up. You get a good cross section of people to ask, especially at large mainline railway stations.
• Don’t stand outside schools unless it’s relevant to your business (you want to question parents about your new line in toddler clothing) and you’ve spoken to the head teacher first.
• Don’t do surveys in shops or on their doorsteps unless you’ve cleared it with them first otherwise they’ll throw you out. If you do want to go inside, then try to pick independent stores where there’ll be one boss who can say yes or no immediately. It’s impossible to get a straight answer from chain stores and you’ll spend a day being passed from department to department until you find someone ‘authorised’ to make a decision.
• But do try harder for a relevant shop. A provider of tailored walking or cycling holidays should try to catch customers at an outdoor/leisure store. Enlist the help of that shop. It’s in their interests: more people cycling or walking or doing outdoor things ultimately means more customers buying their products.