The Entrepreneur's Guide to Market Research

Planning your new business starts here. This invaluable guide arms entrepreneurs with all they need to know to research and analyze potential markets-key steps in constructing effective marketing plans, establishing sound financial forecasts, and finding backers. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Market Research is a must-have for anyone who wants to start or expand a business. This fact-filled, actionable book offers a step-by-step guide to researching and documenting the market potential of any product or service, something that is an essential-and too-often overlooked-part of constructing a workable business plan. Author Anne M. Wenzel, herself a principal in a market research firm, takes entrepreneurs through the process of assessing such things as market size and growth, market trends and needs, emerging technologies, competition, and distribution patterns. She discusses types of market research and makes it clear what market research can and can't do to improve the chances of success. Finally, the book shows entrepreneurs how to document findings as part of a well-written business plan that will be invaluable for their own decision-making and can also be shared with potential partners, lenders, and investors. Worksheets for compiling demographic information, templates for market analysis and the business plan, and a grid for analyzing the competition Case studies showing how entrepreneurs have used market research information to develop profitable business strategies A business-plan template with guidelines for each section Tips and insights for completing market research in each chapter Online and community resources in each chapter Bullet point summarizing steps at the end of each chapter