RTA Business’ Top Five Tips For Effective Market Research

Market research is the lynchpin any successful business is based on, but it’s hard to know where to start when crafting an effective market research strategy. That’s why this week, RTABusiness Consultants thought we’d list for you these top five tips for effective market research.

You need to know your customer if you ever hope to sell your business. Not only is it the best way to actually make money (and show a buyer that your business will bump up their bottom line), but it also shows your buyer who they can target once they buy your business.

A buyer will want to know who your target consumer is, there’s no two ways about it. If you can’t show them that, they will walk away. So what do you need to know to cobble together an effective market research strategy?

A Few Tips from RTA Business

1) Be Broad: Use every avenue available to you – the more information you get, the clearer the picture of your target consumer will be. Use social media sites liberally to gather market data, as they have the capability to reach millions of people with minimal cost.

2) Open Ended Questions: Whenever you question potential consumers, do so by using open ended questions. This allows them to provide the accurate information you need to correctly identify your target market. Close ended questions often lead to gaps in information.

3) Embrace Convenience: Consumers tend to avoid answering market research surveys simply because they see it as a waste of their time, so make it convenient for them. An increasingly popular tactic is to approach consumers by smartphone, as in the modern world, smartphones are practically glued to people’s hands.

4) Political Correctness. Market research efforts have a nasty habit of offending people if questions are framed with language deemed unacceptable. This damages your overall brand. Always be conscientious of how consumers may react to market research methods.

5) Persistence Pays: Again, you’re probably not going to entice a consumer to contribute to your market research efforts on the first try, but you might on the second. Be persistent and they’ll contribute just to get rid of you!

The Importance of a Credit Report

When it comes to selling off your business there are few things that are more important to the process than conducting a credit report. Why do you need to do this and what can it bring to a business sale?

At RTA Business Consultants, one of the country’s leading business acquisition services, we recognise that confidence is key on both sides when you are selling a business. You have to be confident that a buyer has the funds to go through with the purchase and they have to have the confidence that your business will benefit them financially.

This is why you should not only carry out a credit report on your own company, but on theirs too. A credit report is a report that you can obtain which details your credit history. It details accounts, loans, missed payments, jointly held financial agreements, publicly available financial records etc. Normally they are used to ascertain how likely a company is to uphold financial agreements.

There are several services that provide a credit report. Prices for such a service often vary, but usually it clocks in at around £15. However depending on the price the level of service you are provided varies. Look around and conduct some internet researching to find the service that most suits your needs.

It’s easy to see you would want to request a credit report for a potential buyer of your business. You are depending on the buyer to uphold their end of the bargain and a credit report tells you whether they have a history of doing so or not. It provides security and shows that they are trustworthy. It’s insurance.

However it’s not always  so easy to see why when you are selling your business you would conduct a credit report on the business itself, as you might not have a perfect credit history, which is common for small businesses as they’ve gotten started.

However you have to think about it from the buyer’s perspective. They know that no business is perfect and they don’t want to be lied to. Providing a credit report shows them the true state of the business and shows them that you re honest and that they know what they’re buying.

At RTA Business we recognise that when you are selling your business you need to be prepared. Investing in credit report means that you know what you are dealing with and how to proceed.