There was a great article in the Financial Post a few months back about the importance of defining a target market when selling a product or service. An entrepreneur will sometimes try to sell a mass audience because their product or service is so ‘revolutionary’. There are several problems with this approach: Read more »
A survey is a great market research tool with many uses: evaluating customer satisfaction, discovering areas for improvement, and even testing the level of interest for a new product. It is an objective way to gather and analyze responses. Customer satisfaction is particularly important in this day and age. Disgruntled customers no longer just share their frustrations with their close circle of friends. Now, they also go on Twitter, Yelp.com, and YouTube and make their complaints public. Read more »
Keeping costs down in the first year or two of operations is crucial for any new start up. Since new businesses typically have small revenue streams, they need to stay lean, especially in the first year or two of operations. This is why having a ‘virtual office’ can go a long way in keeping administration costs down. What do I mean by a virtual office? It means essentially outsourcing all functions of an office from the phone number to the civic address to where you hold your business meetings. Read more »