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How to market research this idea?

hrojimhrojim subscriber Posts: 1
edited March 2008 in Marketing
Hello,
  I am new here and to being an entrepreneur; so please bear with me.  I have an idea to deliver rain water via ship to water authorities around the world.  In my march to get funding, I believe having a few water authorities stating they would consider purchasing ship loads of water, would be beneficial for my investors to see.
  I am trying to determine the best way to approach these water authorities.  Here are what I think my choices are and my current thoughts.  Any advice would be appreciated.
1) Phone call/elevator pitch?  Not sure respondents would be willing to commit to an answer verbally without further reviewing the idea.
2) Mailed letter of inquiry?  I do not have a formal business address yet so believe I would need to have one prior to this step, correct?
3) Email a letter of inquiry via address links on their website.  Not sure if this is accepted as a proper way to correspond yet.
Thank you,
James

Comments

  • hrojimhrojim subscriber Posts: 1
    Hello Craig,
       I wish to be slightly vague in the description at this time but basically rain harvested water.  Yes your statements on water and the crisis are correct.  And while desalinization is a solution; it is also energy intensive, capital intensive and has discharge issues. 
       So I guess one question is which method would be suggested to contact local water authorities?
    Thank you,
    James
    "Which ideas make you money?  The ones you know about!"
  • hrojimhrojim subscriber Posts: 1
  • carpewebcarpeweb subscriber Posts: 1
    I like Craig`s suggestion, but I think you need more than just a mailing list.  You need to consider how to get your brochure into the hands of someone who can respond to it.  If the water authorities are as bureaucratic as I think they might be, you risk having your brochure reach the mailbox of someone who has a secretary to process mail.  And a lot of secretaries throw out things like brochures from companies they don`t know (or even from companies they do know).
    A telephone "survey" might be a better way to go, if only because your survey can specify that you need to talk to the manager/executive responsible for water sourcing, or something like that.  You can pitch your survey by offering to share a free report of overall survey results, and of course, you can mail your brochure along with that report -- to the person who you have already verified as the appropriate contact.
    Having said that, I know the telephone survey has some pitfalls of its own.  You`ll get refusals from many potential targets, for one.
    It would not surprise me if this audience has several periodicals targeting it.  Maybe you could invest some advertising dollars in that niche or find a conference and try to get yourself invited as a speaker.
    In short, I think you might need multiple approaches for this.
  • hrojimhrojim subscriber Posts: 1
    Good points...Thank you...
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