This week you will identify potential clients who would be interested in purchasing our lemon/lime oil cleaning solution. Earlier you identified a couple of potential clients, now let's get into the weeds. Describe in detail the person/company/organization that you think will purchase this product (identity to how these people/organizations make buying decisions-this tends to be based on the psychology of buying; do they buy for the price, quality, the reputation of the product, etc.). How many exist in each category you identify (if you identify companies, how many branches do they have, how many employees work for them, etc., or if individuals how would you determine the potential number of purchases, etc.)? We are trying to determine the potential number of sales that exist. Most entrepreneurs tend to overestimate the number of sales as they love their product/service; the best approach is to be conservative in anticipation; the best means is to identify as closely as possible potential sales. If you decide you will market to Marriott Hotels to use this food preservative on restaurant buffets, look at the number of Marriotts that exist, how many include buffets in their facilities, and how much would be a reasonable estimate of preservative used? We are trying to get the best estimate of production we can make, in order to predict our sales.

In addition to looking at current users; contact two people you know and ask them for their thoughts about the product; would they use it, how important is it to them to use organic lemon/lime based cleaning solutions; how much would they pay for the product (you will need to determine the size of the container for sale)? If it is something they would not use, determine why.

Once you identify potential users, assemble a chart with the users/companies you identify, and list their physical addresses, their web address, their contact information, phone number, and contact person's name. At the end of the chart, write a paragraph representing information gathered from those you interview.

Once again it is easiest to assemble this information in a matrix or spreadsheet. Our objective here is to assemble as large a list as possible of potential clients.