The value this exercise has for entrepreneurs is that it kicks us in the backside and gets our natural competitive edge back on track. It instigates a narrow and singular focus and gets us increasingly innovative and creative in our approach to beating out neighbours, killing the competition and dislodging the top players in our sector.

Performance measurement is important for all business ventures. Entrepreneurs who would like to assess their businesses and business environment can accomplish this seemingly daunting task by an inexpensive and simple means. This is through a product or service and business environment survey. We advise that surveys are done to get a fair idea of our position in the marketplace. The survey should be simple and not more than a page or two.

The first and most important aspect of this exercise is to define our market. Is it national as would be the case for Indomie noodles, regional as with Dudu Osun soap or is it within a neighbourhood as with Iwoye pure water or the boli (roasted plantain) seller at Oshodi? Once that is ascertained, the next step is to define who the respondents are? There are usually two categories of people that must be questioned. The two groups are those who are current patrons of our business and those who do not do business with us and by our expectations should.

The questionnaire will be split up into three categories. Demographics, general knowledge of the respondents purchasing habits in your business sector, industry-related inquiries and lastly, definite information gathering of purchasers of your product or service or its alternatives, this is specifically targeted at non-patrons.  Demographics – basic demographics should include gender, age, family status, transportation used (to determine income level or expendable income bracket), ethnic group, living location and religion.

General Knowledge and respondents purchasing habits – This is geared towards the customer’s attitudes and beliefs – aided or unaided awareness of your product or service. An example, if you are in the cubed sugar business, unaided awareness can be explained as when you ask the respondent what brands of cubed sugar they know, the list they come up with are the unaided awareness list, usually they will not exhaust all available brands, at this stage you mention others and they will respond as per whether those you now mention are known to them or not, those they remember because you aided their recollection to form the aided list. Other questions will relate to when the respondent uses your product or service. If the respondent at this stage does not use your products you immediately refer them to the next set of questions. Other users would need to answer questions about consumption choice, preference of local, regional, national or international brand, the reason for choice or preference.

Then next group of questions will be about the industry in general – when last your product or service type was purchased, what brand was purchased, how often it is purchased, how much is spent on it, who they patronize, when the product or service is usually purchased, where purchase is made, why the purchase is made, Who did the physical purchase (personally or through another person), who paid for the purchase, what the form of payment was (cash or credit). Last group of questions – why the product or service is not purchased, last time used or purchased.

Responses from demographics will help us know the age bracket most likely to buy our products, the gender, whether single or married and if they are car users or public transport users etc.  An example, if the demographic results show our clients as a single male, public transport users, living in densely populated areas in the outskirts of town; the likely medium for advertising may point in the direction of bus stops area, bill boards and traffic sales. The high density neighbourhood will tend us towards selling in small quantities at lower, affordable prices.

From the general knowledge, attitudes and beliefs responses, we get a feel for how well-known our offerings are in the marketplace, do we promote ourselves more or are we doing okay in that area?  We get a feel for our position in the order of ranking, who should we benchmark our products or services with? Who sells what at what price and what values are being perceived by the buyers making the price acceptable? What concessions are they giving customers? Are our competitors selling on cash only while we are selling on credit or vice versa? What policy for payment should we adopt and how are the successful companies managing their payment policies? In cases where the purchase is not made by the respondent, how can we influence the purchaser’s choice through a third party? All these will affect how, when and where we advertise, and the type of stimuli to attach to our promotions?

Lastly, with general industry information, you may realise how much customers are willing to pay, what they associate with value, where they are likely to made purchases, when the choices are made and what influences their choice of alternatives? Could it be that the alternatives are more accessible than yours? Is your offering given as gifts and not for personal use? Are they purchased on impulse? Do they come by recommendation of others? Do people only purchase if they have occasions? Or are they regular features on their must-have list?