Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers Blog

This time of year, the smell of freshly cut grass, the song of wrens in the morning or the sight of an oscillating sprinkler in the yard transport me back to the summer afternoons of my childhood filled with the sound of Harry Carey announcing a Cardinals game and the smell of my dad’s incredibly wonderful barbecue on the old Coleman grill.

My dad was a great cook, and outdoor cooking was his specialty. He’d cut swatches of hickory from the backyard trees and then start his charcoal in the late afternoon. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do on that well-seasoned grill.

So you can imagine why I kept thinking about him while I visited with the boys at Spicewine Ironworks to learn more about their custom meat smokers, spices and sauces. (more…)

Believe it or not, even if your company is a small one without a lot of staff, you can conduct some basic market research to get a handle on what your customers are buying, who new customers might be, why your target markets are responding and what the reaction might be to new products.

You can do simple email or mail surveys, or you can convene a small focus group to answer some basic questions.

When deciding whom to survey, be sure to select people who truly represent your target audience. For instance, if you have a luxury product or retail outlet, it hardly makes sense to survey families with limited disposable income.

Find your research participants in the following categories:

Current customers, those who mirror individuals currently buying your product or service.
Potential customers, those who might be motivated to buy from you in the future.
Former customers, those who used to patronize your business and then left. You want to find out why.
Competitors’ customers, those who buy from someone else. They can tell you how they make their choice and what they need to become your customers.

Think carefully about the answers you want, and recruit respondents who can best provide them. You want to try to understand their behaviors, attitudes and preferences.

Don’t think of being small as a disadvantage. In reality, because you are small, you are closer to your customer than the big guys. Use that to your advantage to learn more about your audience and what it takes to keep them coming back!