Matt, You could either hire a company to do the research for you or a much cheaper way would be to do it yourself. Draw up a list of questions about your product/ service to first of all get an idea of what people think about it. Give the people a chance to tell you about ways to improve the said product / service and finally introduce a range of further questions that detail your variation to the product/ service, and see what their opinions are. A few things to remember; The great British Public can be an odd bunch at times, and quiet often in surveys of this nature they will say what they think you want them to say, rather than what they really think (this is why many companies choose a specialist research of marketing agency to carry out their surveys, so they can 'cut through the cr*p'[]). A few ways to get round this; try and get across that you are not associated with the product/service provider, and are just carrying out the research as an independant; or if you can, incentivise people to answer the questions (i.e. they could win something by doing it) they are likely to be more interested and give more truthful answers. Sometimes focus groups can be a good way forward with market research as well. Having managed and carried out market research and focus group projects for a range of clients, please don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to chat any of your ideas through, or maybe get some help from Big Blue Door.
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Kind regards

Andy Barr
Marketing and Business Development Manager
www.bigbluedoor.com
01452 383559
07743057458

Remember also if you are doing clipboard market research in the street you will need to check out your legal position. The rules vary from council to council so do not start collecting information in the street until you have a permit to do so!
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LawHound Limited www.lawhound.co.uk
01244 300413

Hi Matt A couple of suggestions for you. a) Contact your local FE college (they may be on summer leave now though, so if you don't mind waiting until September?. Usually the Business Study students have to complete this type of research as part of their studies, you could have a chat with the Head of Business Studies or the college Principal to see if they could help. You would provide the questionnaire, the students would do the work for you and you could give a presentation to them on the research findings? b) Contact your local Business Link, if you don't know where they are visit www.businesslink.org.uk you should be able to find your local outlet from there. BL's provide a miriad of research from Market Reports to Mintel information and such like. You may have to pay a small amount for this but your financiers will be impressed. In addition Business Lnk will be able to help you to organise your research and put your questionnaire together. It is vital that you get help with this so as to minimise the 'bias' effect. Hope this helps you. Kind Regards Lesley Ann.

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Originally posted by Mattley23
Hi guys, I am after a little bit of info on market research if possible. I am pretty far along with my business planning. I have a business plan, premises and a few investors interested in my idea but have only done some general market research. What I need to do is get out there and get the feedback from people in my home town to see if my products are going to satisfy a genuine need in my home town. Has anyone got any ideas on how i can go about doing that??? Matt

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