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State
your business model clearly and concisely
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Check the Yellow pages and the
Internet. Is the number of businesses in your industry
increasing or decreasing from the previous three years and
why? City Hall has listings that will help you here.
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Visit other business owners related
to your business in non-competing areas and ask how they
view potential growth in their industry. Ask about startup
costs and potholes to avoid. Explain why information is
needed. Do not misrepresent your interest. Offer
incentives – invite the owner out to lunch as your guest.
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Bounce your idea off people with
experience in your industry. Structure a prepared list of
questions to match the person being interviewed.
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Canvas people in the community. Ask
questions such as: What do they like or not like about
your competition? What products or service would they
like you to offer?
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Meet with suppliers. They usually
have a feel for market trends and what is selling. You may
even get some inside information on your competitors’
operations.
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If you’ve never owned or worked in
the business – get a job and work in it for 3-6 months.
This will provide you an opportunity to be exposed to
operations, customer and employee relations,
pricing/discounting and how to deal with suppliers.
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Join your industry’s associations,
appropriate Chambers of Commerce and other relevant
organizations. Attend their meetings for a chance to
network and get feedback about the growth of businesses in
your area.
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Looking for additional information:
Internet Search engines and directories, industry and
trade outlooks, govt. (census.gov, doc.gov ,
www.business.gov), market research, public and SCORE
libraries, business brokers, product catalogs.
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Review your business plan with
successful business people. Arrange an appointment with
the appropriate SCORE counselors for advice. Review the
assets available at our web site
www.svscore.org
