Are market surveys and research crucial to open any physical business to ensure its success?

1) Finding someone I can trust to fix things that go wrong (PS: If you are doing anything in the energy/HVAC/integration space I have a lot of experience in that part of the home market)

The best way to work around something like this is to map out the long-term strategy in phases. Build out a brief project map that outlines what they will receive within the 1-3 month period, the 4-7 month and the 8-12 month period. Set micro objectives for each period and this will give the client a bit more confidence in the short-term plans as well as the long. The key thing to remember here is that the client will often be worried about being tied into a contract that doesn't deliver results. As a result, you need to show why you need the time that you do. One thing that I often throw in is an extra incentive for longer contract lengths - for example, an extra PR/content campaign or some paid advertising extras. Try to assure them of some shorter term results that you can obtain as 'quick wins' and build their confidence this way - the major targets will always be longer term but if you can demonstrate that there will be progress between then they will be a lot more receptive.

Do in-depth competition research. Find people doing exactly what you do and call/email and ask for pricing. Make sure you have exact specs for the "job" mapped out and use the same exact details for everyone you call. If you can't find anyone at all who does what you want to do you should dig deep and find out why nobody does it. There are probably good reasons.

How many new clients and what types of clients (individual, business)? Local? Here is a pick list of strategies I know work: If he has a large, satisfied base, use them for referrals and to get their friends to seminars that he hosts. He could partner with a stock brokerage firm (they usually don't do taxes) and do joint marketing (education-based meetings on minimizing taxes, increasing business cash flow, etc.), partner with a legal firm and do joint marketing, their own meeting titled "How to read your business financial statements like a CPA" or "10 ways to get more cash flow out of your business". I have a long list on this topic so connect and I am happy to share.

BuiltWith is awesome, but not for this. It only shows you what sites are built with the tech, and often Magento / Drupal developers have websites for themselves that are on simpler platforms (for example, a Magento developer isn't selling products so they don't need an ecommerce platform like Magento for themselves). Here's the list you need for Drupal: https://www.drupal.org/drupal-services Here's a list for Magento: http://partners.magento.com/partner_locator/search.aspx Hope that helps! Most platforms have developer / agency directories like this.