Business start up

[Brokenheart1066]

I am wanting to do some market research in my local area to gain an idea for cash flow projections.

Does anyone have any idea how to conduct market research for a placement agency? I can't afford to pay for a research company but I need to know if my business idea is viable. Other than going door to door or handing out questionnaires how do I find out if there is a need for it?

Any advice would be greatly received.

 

[Merchant UK]

This is one of the biggest reasons that most businesses fail. They simply do not adhere to the ancient premise of wants and needs and supply and demand. Let me explain, if you do not have something that people want and there is a market for, you will struggle to even achieve a decent cash flow let alone make any profit.

You must research your market well. In the recruitment market some sectors are better than others to enter. This can depend on anything from the area of the country you are based to the growth of an individual market. Have a look on Google. Who is advertising and who is appearing on page one? Buy an industry trade magazine, and read it from cover to cover. Read what is being said. What are the issues and upsides? Take the bull by the horns and offer to buy a recruiter a beer or glass of wine and pick their brains. This will give you a lot of the information you need.

If you have never worked in recruitment before I would respectfully suggest you get a job as a recruiter. Now you may have stacks of cash and just want to manage a team. That might be OK and yet my experience is that the really successful recruitment business owners have all worked at one time or another as a recruiter.

Hope that helps

 

[Brokenheart1066]

Thanks for your response. This is why I simply haven't jumped straight in, I want to research the market and find the current needs and clientele but I just don't know how to do it.

Apparently it costs about 2k minimum for a research team to do the job for you but how does one know the figures are accurate, I've looked at MRS and considering paying up to get the required figures.

 

[Billmccallum]

"going door to door or handing out questionnaires how do I find out if there is a need for it" is the best way to find out.

 

[Merchant UK]

Thanks for your response. This is why I simply haven't jumped straight in, I want to research the market and find the current needs and clientele but I just don't know how to do it.

Apparently it costs about 2k minimum for a research team to do the job for you but how does one know the figures are accurate, I've looked at MRS and considering paying up to get the required figures.

But do you have any experience as a recruiter? You could spend £2000 to find that there is a need and still have no clue what to do.

best bet if you've never had any experiance is go and work for a recruiter and learn as much as you can before making the jump and starting up yourself

 

[Brokenheart1066]

Hi,
Yes I've worked as a consultant agent for a supply agency so I know the business, I just don't know how to professionally do market research for cash flow projections.

 

[Merchant UK]

I would imagine you would contact businesses that may or may not use your services and ask them a series of questions which would allow you to work out a pretty accurate cash flow based on the replies you get.

Also you'll have the start of a client base in which to contact when you've set up your business

Take a peek here http://www.slideshare.net/tutor2u/forecasting-cash-flows

 

[Brokenheart1066]

I will do, cheers for the advice.
Thanks for taken the time to answer.

 

[ApexStrat]

it's vital that you spend sufficient time on the market research to ensure that there is enough demand for your business to be viable.

I would approach this in stages to avoid you wasting lots of time or money on a project that might come to nothing.

Use the tools on Google to see what sort of search traffic there is for the types of services you plan to provide. Google Trends is useful, but also the Google Keyword Tool. This will enable you to see how many people search for specific search terms each month.

Getting out and speaking to people is the best thing you can do at this stage. Or find email addresses through LinkedIn and similar and send out lots of emails. You could look into building a simple survey in surveymonkey and send it out to people.

All of this you can do for free. If it goes well and you're still keen on the idea, then you could look into spending the £2k on something else, or maybe spend it on more specific market research.

With £2k you could build a website and drive loads of visitors to it using Google Adwords, if you put a "contact us" page on the site, you will get a sense for how many people enquire about your services. If you know how many people search for certain terms each month, and you know what % or visitors enquire about business, multiply that by your anticipated average sale and it will give you a (very) approximate sense for the size of the market.

 

[Brokenheart1066]

Thanks all for taking the time to respond. ApexStrat thank you, that's the type of tangible advice I was hoping for, I've already registered with Survey Monkey but I wasn't sure if they were legit but since registering you and a few others have suggested them so I will definitely be using there surveys. I will use your Google Tools suggestions too thank you. It's one thing to have an idea but pie in the sky is what I'm trying to avoid but as a novice I'm really just feeling my way. It's one thing believing there's a market but proving it in a professional and efficient manner is another, there is also an agency in my area that is very successful so I will some how have to find out if they have a monopoly on the market or if there is indeed room for me in the industry.

 

[Joe Davis]

Hi,

Although it seems like a good idea to do your research by getting a job as a recruitment consultant, unless you have a strong sales background, it is easier said than done.

Our company provides a free four hour recruitment start up workshop presentation for anyone looking to set up their own recruitment agency. You will also have a chance to meet with me following the presentation to ask any questions in connection with your recruitment project.

To date our company has helped to set up over 400 recruitment companies both here in the UK and internationally.

 

[Brokenheart1066]

Hi,

Although it seems like a good idea to do your research by getting a job as a recruitment consultant, unless you have a strong sales background, it is easier said than done.

Our company provides a free four hour recruitment start up workshop presentation for anyone looking to set up their own recruitment agency. You will also have a chance to meet with me following the presentation to ask any questions in connection with your recruitment project.

To date our company has helped to set up over 400 recruitment companies both here in the UK and internationally.

Hi Joe,
It sounds great but I notice you are in Kent, I am based in the North East so unfortunately it's too far unless you do an online presentation?

 

[Brokenheart1066]

Thank you to whomever sent me the message telling me to beware. I cannot locate it so it may have been removed but I appreciate you taking the time to voice your concern and give me a heads up!