Businesses fail to grow because founders skip a crucial step. They create offerings based on what they think people want, missing what customers actually need. Then they wonder why nobody buys. You pour hours into building products that don’t sell, writing content nobody reads, and making offers nobody wants. Make this stop.
Companies that conduct market research are more likely to report an increase in revenue, with 76% of those that do it regularly experiencing revenue growth. It provides data to inform strategic decisions about product development and market expansion.
Dakota Robertson is a personal brand consultant who helps entrepreneurs scale with social media. He has trained 198 ghostwriters to make money writing for clients online and scaled his business to $100,000+ months with an audience of over 550,000 people. The secret? Listening to customers.
Robertson shared his exact framework for conducting market research that gets results. With this information, you know exactly who to focus on and exactly how to compel them to buy. You stop wasting time on irrelevant people or offers.
Here are the five steps to truly know your customers and grow your business fast.
Why most market research falls short
The difference between your business at its current size and ten times its size is listening to your customers. Understanding their pains and dreams. Knowing what keeps them up at night. Knowing the information they wish they had and the solutions they would pay to solve.
Most entrepreneurs guess what their audience wants or worse, assume they know. They build products, write content, and make offers based on assumptions rather than reality. Then they wonder why nobody buys.
As Robertson points out, “All content and offers boil down to one thing: relevance.” If your offerings aren’t relevant to your target audience, they’ll be ignored. Market research removes the guesswork and connects you directly with what your audience actually wants.
Conduct effective market research with the 5C framework
Your customers know what they want. Do you? Robertson shared a powerful, proven framework called the 5C framework for market research. Here’s how it works:
1. Collaborate with prospects
You need to get people to talk to you. For this, you need an offer. Robertson suggests creating what he calls a “value trade” to make this happen. “People are busy and not usually willing to give away their time unless they already like you or there’s an incentive for them,” he explains.
Ideally you speak to your current customers. If you’re a pre-startup, speak to prospects. Either way, the value trade matters. You could offer templates, swipe files, custom plans, free work, or audits. Anything that saves time, makes money, or solves a problem for your target audience.
For example, if you’re a course creator, offer your course for free. If you’re a web designer, offer a free website audit. The key is making it easy for potential customers to say yes to a conversation where you can ask questions without feeling bad for taking up their time.
2. Curate for quality
Next, qualify who fits your target audience. You want at least 15 good-fit conversations to spot patterns. “The people you do market research on should be as close as possible to the people you’re trying to convert with your offer,” Robertson advises.
If you’re reaching out via social media, spend a few minutes checking out their profile before sending a message. For open calls, create a simple form with qualification questions to save everyone’s time. If you’re speaking with current clients, make them your best clients. The ones that are exactly the people you want to work with.
Robertson focuses on two key questions: “Could they afford my paid offer?” and “Do they fit my target audience?” Even though you’re not selling on these calls, you want to speak with people who match your ideal customer profile.
3. Compile your questions
Once you’ve found qualified prospects, prepare 5-10 questions for your market research calls. Robertson explains, “When compiling questions, there are three main things I want to understand: present (current pain points, goals, and motivations), past (their background and things they’ve tried), and future (desired outcomes and fears).”
Questions such as, “what’s your one biggest challenge right now?” and “what are your goals for your business?” fit the bill. As do, “if you could wave a magic wand, what would you ask for?” Pains, goals and fears are essential for you to know.
Ask the same questions to everyone to spot patterns. Most importantly, don’t accept surface-level answers. Always ask “why” to get to the real motivations.
For example, if someone says they want 10,000 followers, ask why that matters to them. Their answer might reveal they want authority in their niche, more leads, or speaking opportunities; all valuable insights for your business.
4. Call them up
Now for the actual calls. Keep them short (15-20 minutes) and focused. Robertson structures his calls in four phases: brief intro, setting the frame, the interview, and finishing the call. “Setting the frame means getting the person to follow your lead,” he says. “You do this by telling them how the call is going to go.”
This approach keeps the call on track and positions you as the authority. Ask your prepared questions, but remember to probe deeper when you get surface-level answers. Find depth at all costs. Create a safe space and keep probing for their insights.
End by thanking them and providing the promised incentive. The way you run these calls matters almost as much as the questions you ask, so make sure you follow a structure.
5. Create your magic
The final step is turning your research into actionable insights. “The calls are the most work out of this whole framework, so now it gets a lot easier,” Robertson says. Use AI tools and prompts in ChatGPT to transcribe and analyze your calls.
Look for patterns in what people say they want, what problems they face, and what solutions they’ve tried. When analyzing, get to the fundamental fears, motivations and beliefs of your dream customers.
This information becomes the foundation for creating a persuasive offer, compelling marketing, and engaging content that speaks directly to what your audience actually wants. You could 10X your business by following this method, and Robertson has seen it happen. The insights you find will fuel your business decisions for months.
Start listening, stop guessing, grow faster
Stop assuming you know what people want and start asking them directly. A few hours spent conducting proper market research will save you months of wasted effort on products nobody wants.
When you understand exactly what your customers want, you can create offers they can’t ignore. Apply the 5C framework today. Collaborate, curate, compile, call, and create. Your business growth depends on it.
Read the full article here
