9A Testing the Hypothesis

9A

Questions: Do you mow the lawn or know someone who mows the lawn? Have you or your parents ever used a professional lawn mowing service? Do you think you would benefit from a wider mower? What other problems do you have with your lawnmower?

Benji: I mow the yard when I am at home with a regular push mower. There was a time when my parents had a professional service, but then we decided it wasn’t worth the price and I took over the duties. We might benefit, but im not sure, our yard is too small for my parents to buy a riding mower. If the push mower was easier to push or lighter I would be fine with it, but it’s hard to push.

David: Yes I mowed the lawn when I lived at home in middle and high school. My parents have never used a professional service, since I was old enough to do it I have been mowing the lawn. I think my house would benefit from it. The backyard is very large and it is an open space, so if the mower was wider I could finish the yard faster. The mower was too slow, at full throttle it could only go like 5mph, that was fine for when I needed control, but it was too slow for the open spaces.

Brad (owner of a local lawn care company): I think we could benefit from a wider mower. I would be concerned with maintenance cost as we constantly have to fix or mowers since we use them all day every day. If we could knock off 5 minutes from every lawn that would be a great help. Control of the lawnmower is a major factor that we look at when buying a new mower, if it is not easy to drive then we cannot provide a clean cut for our customer’s lawns.

Paul: I mow the yard. Never used one, too expensive. I have a regular mower, I would mind if it was wider because that means I could cut faster. I am fine with my mower, it doesn’t need any additional features.

Steve: I mow the yard. A wider mower would be helpful for the open spaces, but I also need it to be able to make tight turns because I have a lot of trees. My mower currently doesn’t reverse well, If a mower could go equally as fast in reverse that would be nice because my yard is oddly shaped so I drive in reverse a lot.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the boundary
Anyone who mows large lawns	People who don’t mow their own lawns, or if they only have a small lawn
The need is to mow more efficiently and save time and money	Their need is not met because they don’t spend a significant time mowing the lawn
Mowing the lawn is something that many people complain about, saying it takes too much time	Potential customers might not want to buy the product before it is completely tested and proven