When thinking about starting a business, market research is one of the most important aspects, prior to getting your business up and running. One of the most important parts of your research should be establishing market demand. Market demand is exactly what it sounds like. It is the general demand for a given product, and the demographic, or the “who”, that will be doing the purchasing. Like the simple economic rule of supply and demand, the higher demand for your product or service, the higher you can charge.
Often when thinking about opening your own business, you may be so excited about your idea, you may not have interest in learning about its actual demand. However, this research is critical to your profitability. Why? This research will play a large part in setting goals for your new business.
What if we told you The Brothers that just do Gutters were ALREADY in demand in your area prior to even beginning your market research? Our website traffic statistics indicate that The Brothers that just do Gutters website has a large amount of traffic from areas that do not even house a Brothers Gutters location…yet.
But, even with such great web leads and client interest already coming from your territory, this does not mean your market research is over.
So, how do you go about researching the demand for your product or service within your desired territory?
- Look for data, reports, and existing studies on your market – This will be a large part of what you will be doing during your market research stage. Researching and understanding the existing data is huge in building your own market research report and figuring out your numbers. There are reports, and lists already completed that you can acquire and/or purchase to use in your research.
- Conduct surveys – This is the part where you collect your own data, and conduct your own test groups. Using a tool like Survey Monkey to gather data from your local, and social community can be extremely beneficial and easy. Create a survey asking the public questions about your product/service to gauge interest and see what they’d be willing to pay, as well as who they currently use for this service, what they like about competitors, what they wish their market had, etc. This survey can be shared on social media sites, websites, email, and many other platforms to gather answers. These people are most likely your potential future audience, making their answers crucial to your research.
- Competitor research – Researching your competition is not only important in price and demand evaluation, but also in knowing if your territory is a good location for your product/service. Is this area already saturated with competition for your product or service? If so, how can you stand out? What will you need to charge to be competitive in your area? What do you need to charge to be profitable? Is your product or service seasonal?
- Speak to other local, similar, but non–competing, businesses – This is another great way to collect your own data, but instead of from the consumers’ perspective, from the providers’. This will help you measure how successful your type of product or service is within your territory. Of course, how someone else runs their business is not a 100% accurate representation of how yours will do, but it is a great place to start, and great insight to add to your research.
Once all this research is complete, you should have a pretty good idea of how “in demand” your product/service is within your desired territory. As a Brothers Gutters franchise, we will help you to conduct some of the preliminary research, as well as help you to generate a service area that is the most beneficial to you and your growth. By purchasing a franchise, you are coming into the game with brand recognition that is already established as well as a great reputation, that is proactively monitored across the board.
Our Head of Franchise Sales, Ken Parsons, has already built many prolific territories The Brothers want to sell. Talk to Ken about a potential market in your neighborhood and ask him about the difference in The Brothers brand and how we stand out from our own competitors. We look forward to meeting you!