This report is based on information found in my manual,
"How to Start on a Shoestring and Make a Profit With Hydroponics". To find out how you can get your own copy, CLICK HERE.

For vegetables you implement your marketing research by using nutrition as your guideline. Before you can decide how you will approach a market, you must go into that market and get some questions answered. Let's suppose you want to grow tomatoes. You will have to find out what the customer likes in tomatoes and what he's willing to pay. Perhaps the customer wants a tomato which is firm in texture, has very few seeds, is clean (wrapped), has excellent taste and has your logo on it. We said perhaps - you'll have to ask the customer to be sure.

DON'T ASSUME! How are you going to get this information? By being in the store or at the market where the customer can be found. You could have a plate of your own freshly sliced tomatoes at hand. Offer the customer a taste and ask him some questions.

Here's where your ability to listen counts! Pay attention to what the customer says. You might ask the customer about the best recipe she ever used with hydroponic tomatoes. Write down everything she says - as fast as you can. She'll think her information is important (it is!) and give you some ideas which you can use later in your advertising approach. If a customer doesn't venture much information (and also if she does), put a puzzled look on your face as if you don't quite understand. The customer is then more likely to give you more information.

Probably she will tell you the real opinions she has about tomatoes and about hydroponic tomatoes in particular. Ask the customer if she's noticed friends and neighbors buying hydroponic tomatoes. She may tell you how hydroponic tomatoes are used in her home. If the customer doesn't buy hydroponic tomatoes ask her how your product compares with what she normally buys. Then ask her what size tomato she prefers. Ask her if her husband ever buys tomatoes. Maybe she prefers doing that herself - and has her reasons for doing so. Try to find out those reasons.

Is the customer willing to pay extra for your quality? Ask her. Is she aware of the nutritional value of your tomato as opposed to the field-grown? If not, tell her. How does the customer buy tomatoes - by the pound or by the number? Would she buy more if she were assured they all were of the highest quality? Ask her why she's buying hydroponic tomatoes instead of the field-grown which are two shelves away. Does locally-grown mean anything to her? Is she annoyed with the way hydroponic tomatoes have been sold in the past? Does her family use more tomatoes in the summer than in the winter? If so, why? Is it because she's afraid winter tomatoes will be flat, won't have taste, won't be firm? Is she familiar with the non-hydroponic winter tomato? Does she know it's picked green, gassed to make it red, and shipped over a thousand miles to occupy the shelves at her market?

Define your target customer! Perhaps she's a mother who has purchased your tomatoes after sampling them. You've got to determine why she bought them from you. A target customer is one whom you've determined in advance to be the best likely prospect for your tomatoes. She doesn't have to have a lot of money. Many people who like a good tomato will buy tomatoes priced higher and which may be a bit beyond their budget's range. If you want to set up a marketing plan which will work, the opinions of the target customer are what you want. From the very beginning you should be interested only in the target customer. So you must set up criteria which accurately define that customer.

Once you learn how to listen, you'll be doing effective marketing research. You'll learn how to vary your questions; you'll learn not to ask questions which lead nowhere. You won't ask questions which require one-word answers. You'll ask questions which get the customer to talking. You'll let the customer search for a way out to describe how she feels. And if there's an emotional response, you'll follow it up to the end where you're likely to find some good ideas. Don't look for the "correct" answer. Don't look for agreement or flattery. Look for differences of opinion - ammunition which you can use later on. Be sure to interview all the target customers you can find. Remember to have your sampling large enough to have accuracy.

Even with all your efforts you will learn the customer is never permanently yours. Your research will help. The customer has to be continually re-assured by your product that it will always be excellent and exactly what she wants.

The Big Six: