If you had the chance to survey people before you opened your shop, what questions would you ask?? OR-- now that you have a shop, what would you like to ask? I have several local volunteers to answer twenty questions, and I get to pick them.... what would you ask??

I touched on buying habits, favorite flavors and fillings... where did they get their wedding cake, where was their reception, how much was their cake, where do they go to get cakes, etc but after wracking my brain for an hour, I only have 16 questions... and then they can tell me anything they want, it's very informal.... HELP!
Thanks

Edited to make the title more specific....

How do you find your wedding vendors .... yellow pages or internet or other? (this tells you how and where you need to spend your advertising dollar).

How much influence does/did a venue's list of "preferred vendors" impact your buying decision? big influence / some / none at all (This tells you how much time you should spend getting on a preferred vendor list or if it's a waste of time because brides ignore it.)

"I buy my cakes/cookies based on (check all that apply) location, word of mouth/reputation, price, looks, taste, (add your own)." Maybe have them rank 'em 1 thru 10 in order of importance. (this helps you see what is important to the gen'l public in their decision making process and how/if you need to address them).

I try to steer my friends/family to businesses that I enjoy working with (true/false). (do they get excited about good product/service?)

A monetary reward (referral credit) will/won't cause me to steer MORE of my friends/family to businesses that I enjoy working with. (will they tell their friends about you ANYWAY? Or will some kind of freebie give them a kick in the pants to promote your company?)

Before you bought your wedding cake, did you have any idea what a wedding cake might cost you? yes/no (how educated were they when they started looking?)

After your bought your wedding cake, did you find the price to be About the same/much more/much less than the price you thought it would be?
(How much educating do you have to do to overcome any discrepancies in what they thought and what they bought?)

DID you establish a wedding budget?
(a) yes, we had a budgeted plan to follow
(b) No, we pretty much winged it!

How did you establish a wedding/party budget?
(a) it was the amount of money I had available to spend
(b) I made a list of what I wanted, researched what it would cost to get what I want, then saved up that amount of money
---------(a) tells you they have no idea what things cost and they are trying to squeeze all they can out of an arbitrary number. (b) is the rare bride that none of us have ever met! )

When planning your wedding, the one thing you had a "money is no object" attitude was your ____________ (for example, dress / flowers/ cake / food / DJ/ reception room / etc).
---------(this tells you where the bride's priorities are and where you fall in the master plan of their wedding)

I'm sure I'll come up with more later!!

Debi you are a cake business goddess to me... I have your business plan sitting next to me, and I refer to IT more than I do my financially successful bakery book! If you are half as good with numbers as you are with ideas, you are in the wrong business, girlfriend! You need to be putting these skills to good use!! Put your tips and tricks and wisdom on CD and I'm sure CC will finance your retirement!! I would!!

THANKS

That is so funny, because I feel so disorganized right now ... I'm picking the brains of all the smart people I know (who bless their hearts are very willing to listen to me whine and help with their expertise!) and when they tell me something, I've said to them "You know, I say that very same thing to other people! How come I dont' listen to me!"

so thanks for the boost of confidence right now!

Anytime!!! I had no idea if/when I would ever need the business plan you offered to me... But it's really come in handy, just in the wording and layout... I'm wowing the small business group with all my 'expertise' and it's all coming from here! And people as awesome as you!

Paying it forward ... good girl!!

Include basic demographic info ... age of bride/groom, education level, etc.

Also it would be interesting to know who is paying/planning the wedding?

-bride and groom are doing all of the planning and paying.
-bride and groom are doing all of the planning and parents are paying.
-bride and groom and parents are splitting the planning/paying.

THanks again Indydebi.... I posted my request for volunteers last night and got 25 so far!!

Indydebi, could I have a copy of your business plan? My husband and I are in the works to start our own place and we are doing a lot of research. This would be really helpful. My email is [email protected].