One of the easiest ways to research your business idea or writing a business plan is to telephone other successful small business owners and ask them questions.

The best resource will be small business owners outside of your area. Because you are not in competition with them, they will more likely answer your questions.

Prepare A List Of Questions

In advance of the call prepare a list of questions or issues you want to learn more about. They can be anything from setting prices, marketing successes or even hours of operation. The key is to zero in on the information that would be most helpful to you. Some questions to ask:

• If they had to do it all over again, would they?
• If so, what they would do different next time?
• Ask them about profit margins and sales. NOTE: this could be sticky issue. I would wait until later in the conversation and volunteer what you think your profit margins will be, and ask them what their experience has been like.
• What has been your most successful marketing strategy? Least successful?
• How would you describe your customer profiles, demographics?
• What is the average annual customer sales volume? How often do they buy? What are your most popular products and services.
• How important is your location?

A Little Give And Take My personal experience is that once you get small business owners talking, they will willingly volunteer information. When you place the phone call provide the following information at the beginning:

• state who you are: be up front and tell them who you are and what you are planning to do. If you are setting up a similar or exact same business, be honest.
• tell them what you want: let them know exactly what information you are looking for.
• ask for their permission: if you ask for their cooperation instead of just assuming, you will get a much better response. Plus, make sure that it is a good time for them to talk. If not, offer to call them back at a time that is convenient.
• confidentiality: state your intent to keep the details confidential.

By giving a little information early in the phone call, you give them an opportunity to decide if they want to cooperate with you or not.

Exercise Caution

Just because you asked the questions and they answered them does not mean, based upon that information, you should change your direction or business plans. Take time to review what you learned and decide if the information is applicable to your specific situation.

What tactics and strategies do you use to get competitive information? How is your strategy similar or different than what I suggest?