Method

Purpose

Talk to potential customers

§   To know what products they want to buy

§   To know what they think about potential competitors

Study businesses of your competitors

§   To find the quality and design of their products

§   To know what prices they charge

§   To know how they attract customers

§   To look for possibilities of developing the already existing products of competitors to a  superior design and quality, instead of imitating them as they are.

Ask suppliers and business friends

§   To know which goods are selling best

§   To know what do they think of your business idea

§   To know what do they think of competitors' products.

Read newspapers, catalogues, trade journals, magazines

§   To get information and ideas on new products

Description of the product
What product should I produce? What should be the design, model, appearance and style of the product?  What should be the brand name of the product?

Comparison of the product with its competitors
Can I produce a product of better quality compared to others? Can I provide warranty for my products? Is the design of my product better than others? Can I use quality raw materials? Can I label my product?

Location of business
Can I get proper business location not far from my customers? Can I get proper premises with reasonable rent?

Major customers
Who would be my customers: Individuals, households, and government/private/non-government institutions? Urban/rural residents?

Market share
Do I have the capacity/possibility of measuring market share? Is there a possibility of getting some market share by competing with similar producers? What would be the possible number of customers per month/year? Is there a possibility to capture more market share in the future? Should the market share be high, do I have the necessary resources/capacity to respond to that market?

Selling price
-  My pricing strategy: Should I go for profit maximisation in the short-term?
   Profit optimisation in the long-term? A minimum return on investment?    

-   Keeping parity with competition? Fast turnaround and early cash recovery?

-   My pricing methods: Should I follow cost-based pricing? Demand-based
   pricing? Competition-oriented pricing? Product line - oriented pricing,
   affordability - based  pricing? Differentiated pricing?

Promotional measures
How can I promote my product: Which media channels (local newspapers? signboards? Leaflets and brochures? Exhibition/bazaar participation? Words of mouth

Marketing strategy
-   Selecting target clients: Studying the customer, his/her buying motives
   and buying behaviour, segmentation of the market using relevant bases,
   evaluating each of the segments, selecting the appropriate segment as
   target market.

-   Developing the “5P” marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion
   and Person.

-   Provision for the impact of uncontrollable environmental variables.

-   Developing the detailed functional plans of marketing: production plan,
   sales plan and advertising and sales promotion plan.

Sales/demand forecast
(for details on sales forecast see next)

  ·  Determine the objective;

  ·  Select the period of forecast;

  ·  Select the forecasting techniques;

  ·  Collect the information to be used;

  ·  Make the forecast.

 End-use/user expectation method

 Steps:

   - List the various users of the product;

   - Ascertain the individual likely demand of
     the product;

   - Consolidate the forecast for the demand.