Marketing research can help you learn valuable information about your business. One of the most important pieces is an idea of how many customers you potentially have, and how many of these potential customers are likely to become actual buyers.
The information you need to identify and count potential customers falls into four basic areas:
1. Information within your own files.
2. Information available to everyone (known as secondary sources).
3. Research you do yourself.
4. Research you pay to have done.
Click on the link below for a worksheet that can be completed in conjunction with this information on five key areas in marketing research:
1. Determining the number of your potential customers.
This step requires doing homework. If you are selling to the general public, you need to look at the US Census data for your market area. If you sell to other businesses, there are many potential sources of information; one of the best is a trade association.