Want to do a survey, but how?

**shaun.p.lawrence** · 02-15-2007 08:52 PM

I live in a rather large city here in the US. I'm interested in opening a hookah lounge primarly because one doesn't exist within miles of here. I've started doing some solid research as far as licenses, start up, rent, smoking regulations, etc....But before I start to get into the thick of things, I want to survey my target demographic audience and see what kind of feedback I get....but how do I do this? I'm a little concerned because the city as a whole is considered a "conservative" city, so I'm not sure how a hookah lounge would go over. One option I was thinking was using myspace to do some surveys.
Need some feedback please...

**akula** · 02-15-2007 10:38 PM

okey...some thoughts

1) to enter the market with lowest risk and highest return, you need to first distribute your services through Lebanese/middle eastern restaurants in your area....or other venues like nightclubs

2) your business should not be in "opening a hookah lounge" but in helping other businesses extend their entertainment offerings

3) if you can get some business customers, you'll achieve three things:

a) positive martket reaserch (i.e. people want this stuff)
b) startup capital (you'll make some money)
c) market entry wityh less risk (i.e. you won't need to borrow money, or commit to long term leases)

this is not a question of whether what I 'm saying to you is a better/worse idea than your own ambition. what I'm saying is basically a statement that, in terms of initial market entry, you don't have the risk profile to lease a premises, market your services and bear all that risk

answer to question: open yellow pages, survey venues on whether they want additional services for their customers, such as hookahs....but don't use that word, it's unmarketable...call it "hubbly bubbly" or "Egyptian water pipes"....build a brand around ancient egypt....or the rave culture...there's very little to do in dance clubs...it's too loud to talk, and if you don't wanna dance, you should be able to sit down and hit the hookah

what's your feedback?

**shaun.p.lawrence** · 02-16-2007 09:17 AM

I was thinking along the lines of polling my target audience which would be college students that are 21+ and young professionals. My idea for a hookah lounge is not going to be geared towards middle eastern people. I like the looks of this hookah lounge....http://www.icehookahlounge.com/menu.html

**akula** · 02-16-2007 10:20 AM

sure, you can punt on yuppies and students. it doesn't even matter who you want as your target market. you're gonna go through a sales learning curve (starting with your surveys) which might lead you to yuppies, or somebody else, or to a completely different line of business. the trick is to keep your mind open to all opportunities, because it's very - very - easy to make a mistake in selecting a target market...particularly when you haven't problem-formulated.

look, you've been at this thing for a while now. put together some surveys and get them filled out via facebook or campus stalls or whatever.

what's the prob?

**shaun.p.lawrence** · 02-16-2007 10:30 AM

That's my problem...I'm a little in the gray when it comes to what content I should put on my surveys. I'll try and formulate a survey and maybe post it on here for you or anyone else to evaluate

**akula** · 02-16-2007 10:40 AM

ok...to draft the surveys you need to know your objectives: there are three

a) reject investment in the venture
a) use the results as bargaining chip to procure resources
b) use the results to formulate the marketing mix

the questions should be formulated to meet these three objectives

you ok with "marketing mix" or you want me to explain?

**shaun.p.lawrence** · 02-16-2007 10:45 AM

I'm ok with marketing mix(4 p's)
It's objectives a and b, which I need explained a little more please.

**akula** · 02-16-2007 11:20 AM

sure....

a) entrepreneurs don't get a lot of swings with the bat. they're not like artists or musicians. they don't get 100's of chances to make a hit. they only get 5-10 real shots throughout their careers. because entrepreneurs don't get a lot of shots, it's important to make every shot count, it's very important to have all the ducks lined up, and not to miss opportunities. since starting a venture locks you out of exploring other opportunities, it's very important to start the right ventures (i.e. there is an opportunity cost committing your self to any given startup). the process of getting to the right venture, is one of elimination where the founder starts with many alternative business ideas and rejects all of them, until she arrives at the last remaining opportunity which is better than all other opportunities.

that's why, rather than using the research to find reasons to start the venture, it's a lot more important to find reasons for NOT starting the venture.

e.g. you'd ask questions like what a prospect would prefer to do on a Saturday evening; stay at home, catch a movie, or smoke a hookah. if people prefer to prefer catching a movie and staying at home to smoking a hookah - that's an indicator that hookahs are not desired enough for you to invest your self in the venture.

b) survey results are like cash. they can be exchanged for goods and services. for example, if the survey results are overwhelmingly positive, you can use them to get rent from the landlord and promise to cut her in on the profits....or hire a sales person, or get a loan from your uncle

e.g. you'd ask questions like "will you pay to visit a hookah lounge if one is available?"

these are examples of how your objectives inform the contents of the survey

look....put up a v1.0, I don't care how short or crappy it is, and the community will add more questions to it/ rephrase the questions

**shaun.p.lawrence** · 02-16-2007 12:35 PM

I like the thought of asking myself reason NOT to explore the venture! Very good advice. Just in the few minutes I came across a few KEY why NOT to open a hookah lounge. The main one is that my wife and I just purchase a house last year and we both have steady, salaried, full-time jobs that pay for the house. Opening a hookah bar would me one of us would probably have to leave our current job and start working nights\weekends to run the bar. If I only had a way of getting around this!

**akula** · 02-16-2007 12:59 PM

you can, one option is to sell hookahs on ebay or via mail order..you can build up a client list in all 50 states, if not all over the world: more customers as opposed to a fixed premises + less overhead = more profit...plus you get the repeat purchases of tobacco/spare parts...you can also go wholesale and supply thousands of tobacconists....or design a hookah which has a more contemporary/western look and try to get them into traditional households...an alternative to cigars and cigarettes

you can do anything, there's a lot of options. it all starts with surveys and after that the learning curve will take you to mostly unpredictable places.