13. Customer patterns. If this is the type of business that can track customers, you will want to know specific characteristics concerning current customers, such as: How many are first-time buyers? How many customers were lost over the past year? When are the peak buying seasons for current customers? What type of merchandise is the most popular? 14. Marketing strategies. How does the owner obtain customers? Does he or she offer discounts advertise aggressively, or conduct public relations campaigns? You should get copies of all sales literature to see the kind of image that is being projected by the business. When you look at the literature, pretend that you are a customer being solicited by the company. How does it make you feel? This can give you some idea of how the company is perceived by its market.