Survey: What to ask?
Discussion
I am writing a business plan for a caterham seven hire company based in the south west. I am attending the great south west kit car show on saturday, and am putting together a survey to ask people at the show. So far, these are the questions I've thought up.
1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
GPSS said:
I am writing a business plan for a caterham seven hire company based in the south west. I am attending the great south west kit car show on saturday, and am putting together a survey to ask people at the show. So far, these are the questions I've thought up.
1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
Sounds good, my only concern is will they do what they say? I might say I would consider hiring but in reality probably never would. Might be worth asking whether they have previously hired, what, how much, how long, how many miles and the purpose etc.?1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
How far in advance would they book? That might tell you how many vehicles you need of if you could outsource to deal with unexpected peaks. Would they want to hire other vehicles and if sio, what. If you have a captive audience pity to waste it just because the weather is against you.
What use would they put it to? If it is special event hire it probably won't get thrapped but if it is weekend hoons it almost certainly will which might impact on your maintainence costs and resale values.
They will try and hold down the price I am sure if they are seriously considering hiring.
You might get a larger and broader sample by hosting your own online survey free through something like survey monkey and posting links on PH and other motoring/enthusiast sites?
I wonder if competitors have acounts at companies house you could look at? I sometimes look at the accounts of my competitors to see if they reflect the impression they are giving of success/hard times albeit they are out of date.
GPSS said:
I am writing a business plan for a caterham seven hire company based in the south west. I am attending the great south west kit car show on saturday, and am putting together a survey to ask people at the show. So far, these are the questions I've thought up.
1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
What you are doing this type of research you ALWAYS have to think from the point of view of whether your question will get you useful results and actually get some results rather than wooly data. Your questions are a good starting point though. Ill explain:1. Would you hire a seven for a day
2. Do you think there is a market for Seven hire.
3. How many miles would you like in a day.
4. would you prefer midweek or week end hire.
5. How much would you pay for a day.
6. what age and where are you from.
7. where would you look, for advertising.
8. would you hire in winter or rain.
9. what do you think of company name
10. any comments or ideas.
Can you think of some more pertinent or interesting questions to ask. Also does anyone know of any other ways I could get some customer related market research done. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Cheer's.
2) Do you think there is a market? - That is what you are finding out! The the data from the other questions will answer this much better than a straw poll of consumers of whether your business might work.
4) Would you prefer midweek or weekend hire? - The majority of people are going to say weekend. But we already knew that. Better to split this into two questions - Would you hire during the weekend? Would you hire during the week? This gets specific numbers.
5) How much would you pay for the day? - People will underestimate this or not think about it properly. Put the proposition to them: Would you pay £79 per day for a weekend day during the summer? Would you pay £99 for the weekend? Would you pay £199 for the week?
7) where would you look, for advertising. - No-one really looks for advertising. Advertising passes through their hands and they often at a different time actively look for a hire agency. So, perhaps "Do you hire high- performance cars at the moment" and "How did you see/hear of the companies you use" Will get you a more accurate qualification of how advertising is used. Maybe "Do you read any motor magasines, if so which ones" might let you see your target market.
That's good advice from Justin 
You need to ask questions that give answers, so YOU can work out if there is a market.
Work backwards. Realise what information you need to make an informed decision, THEN devise the questions to give those answers.
Avoid double negatives, if using a scale stick to 1-5 (the Likert scale, as it's called), keep questions simple, and use closed questions if you want an exact answer (Yes/No - helps avoid "maybe"
.
You need to ask questions that give answers, so YOU can work out if there is a market.
Work backwards. Realise what information you need to make an informed decision, THEN devise the questions to give those answers.
Avoid double negatives, if using a scale stick to 1-5 (the Likert scale, as it's called), keep questions simple, and use closed questions if you want an exact answer (Yes/No - helps avoid "maybe"
.GPSS said:
Thank's guys, exactly the kind of help I was looking for. I will put together an online survey and post on here in the near future, again thanks. Ian
The book you want it "Questionnaire Design" by A.N. Oppenheim.It's a little dry, but is perfect for your needs. Search around as it still commands silly money. If you get really stuck then I have a copy.
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