Research
There are lots of types of research - but they all have one thing in common. You first need to know the question you're trying answer. I work out the correct questions, then find ways of answering them for you.
People inside a business often get blinded to the truth. They, of all people, have to believe that their business will work - so they can sometimes miss what potential customers actually think of their offering. I have the advantage of looking from the outside - I'm always objective, which is what you need.
I can structure and execute the research you need. It might be desk research, using market reports to build up volume estimates or competitive information to get pricing guidelines. Or it might be customer research, talking to existing or potential customers to find out what they really want. I can make this quantified (so you get hard numbers) or qualitative (so you find out the underlying emotions that drive people to buy or not buy) - often, a combination of both approaches gives you the most cost-effective result. It could be research into a new graphic identity for your business, or a new product idea.
Lastly, you need to know what the results mean - I interpret the research and give you a full recommendation on what you should do to capitalise on the results.
I've many years' experience of devising, executing and interpreting research of all types. And if you think research is too expensive to consider, then think of the cost of not doing research...