Information to Gather at the Concept Statement Evaluation Stage
*Write your surveys so that you collect the following information*
Instructions: Using what you learned during the primary research lecture, gather initial technical expert, target
market characteristics, and target market preference data relevant to your team’s business concept. This data should
be collected by a survey format. As such, the team should design the cover letters and survey questions so that are
formatted per the guidelines discussed in the primary research lecture. You will use these cover letters and survey
questions to collect data from at least 2 technical experts (e.g., people who have some expertise relative to your
team’s business) and 3 members of your target market (customer and/or end users). Again, be sure that the
cover letters and survey questions follow the guidelines for effective cover letter and survey construction.
Specifically, design the data collection protocols to include no more than 20 items and so they allow your team to
collect the following data.
Technical Expert Data
1. The respondent’s perception of the feasibility of the product/service as described in the concept statement. If
they do not think that it is feasible, find out why.
2. Determine how much the respondent believes it would cost to produce/deliver the product/service offering.
3. If there are specific technical details (e.g., electronics, distribution channel possibilities, cost issues, competitor
offerings, appropriate market to target, features that should/could be offered, etc.) that the team is trying to work
out with regard to designing/delivering the product/service, include specific questions that address each of the
issues that the team is unsure about at this point.
4. Collect some general demographic information (e.g., age, education level, area of expertise, other relevant
demographics that will allow us to assess the respondent’s expertise relative to the business concept).
5. A final question about the concept should be an open-ended question should ask the respondent to provide any
additional feedback or comments regarding the business concept.
Target Market Data
Note that if your customer—the person paying you money—is different from your end user—the person using the
product/service, try to collect data about each group as they both compose your target market.
1. The respondent’s interest in purchasing the team’s product/service. If they are not interested, find out why.
2. Determine how much the respondent would be willing to pay for the team’s product/service offering.
3. Design some questionnaire items that allow the team to assess the respondent’s perceptions of importance of
different features of the business concept. This will help the team refine the business offering so that it meets
the needs, solves the problems, and/or fulfills the desires of the target customers. This will also help the team
refine their concept if they are unsure as to what features should be integrated into the concept.
4. Collect some general demographic information (e.g., age, education level, annual income, gender, if a student
their major(s), other relevant demographics specific to the business). This information will help the team to get
a better understanding of who their target customer is (e.g., if none/most of the respondents indicated they
would not purchase this offering, then the team should a) modify the concept to meet the respondents’ needs or
b) identify the appropriate target market).
5. A final question about the concept should be an open-ended question should ask the respondent to provide any
additional feedback or comments regarding the business concept.