Marketing intelligence and market research are critical to your success. Business owners must understand their primary and secondary competitors, as well as have a clear picture of their target audience.

Grab the local phone book, Pennysaver, chamber of commerce listing, and any other directory of local businesses. Review ads and offerings. Visit their Websites if they have one. Gather competitive information.

If you are not currently collecting research on your drop-in and local customers, now is the time to develop a short survey so that you can begin to better understand who you are serving -- including how they found your business and why they chose your services over the competition.