St. Clair County
You are driving through a part of St. Clair County you do not usually work, and you notice the new subdivisions and the strip centers going up. You wonder if you should be here, but you have no idea how many competitors already are, or whether the customers here want what you sell.
Market research replaces the guess with facts. We count the competitors, read what customers say about them, look at homes, households and businesses by area, check what people search for and talk to real customers about what they want.
You make the call with your eyes open. Maybe the area is wide open and you move first, maybe it is crowded and you find a gap nobody is filling. Either way you know why, and you can explain it to your partner or your banker.