Monday, July 18, 2011

Focus Groups

The entrepreneur must be disciplined to take time on a consistent basis to work "on" their business, not just "in" it. Michael Gerber discusses this at length in his book, The E-Myth Revisited.

An example of working "on" your business is to conduct a focus group. Focus groups can involve speaking to customers, prospective customers or business peers regarding the performance of your business. A focus group allows you to step back and look at the business from a perspective you don't see when you are in the trenches day to day.

Ask a business owner what their problems are and you will usually get a list. The most effective business owners rely on focus groups to help uncover information they could not gain on their own.

A focus group can consist of 6-12 people who are asked questions pertaining to specific problems identified by the business owner. The goal is to obtain a quantity of ideas that can be recorded and reviewed afterward. Focus groups must be facilitated by a professional who will stay on task with the session agenda and complete the session in a timely manner.

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