Wouldn’t it be great if you had a crystal ball you could look into to see if your product would be a success? It would save headaches, time, and money. The crystal ball does exist (kind of), yet people who start businesses put out products for sale that they haven’t determined would be successful in the first place. Doing some simple homework ahead of time can give you a vision of the future, and save you—or make you—a lot of money.
Here are seven ways to determine if your product will be successful before you invest in everything to perfect and sell it:
1. Do a test
You have probably heard this before, but it can’t be overlooked. Conducting a test on your product to gauge the interest is invaluable. Of course it won’t give you the exact results that you can expect later on, but you will be able to at least see if there is any interest in what you want to sell.
2. Talk to potential customers
Get feedback from potential customers. Ask them what they need, what they want, and additional questions like how much they would be willing to pay for such a product. The more you can learn about what their needs are, the better off your product will be.
3. Ask people to buy now
When you tell people about your new idea, rather than asking people if they would buy such a product at a later time, see if they are willing to open their wallet right then. Simply ask that if they like the idea, that they can put 25 percent down right now to get it. Watch their actions—if they aren’t willing to put down some money they're indicating they would not buy it.
4. Do some research
It may take some time, but doing research about your product, competition, and market can be really valuable. It helps to see the trends in the market and what others have done, so you can use that information to help plot your own success story.
5. Remain positive
Having an attitude that is positive and focused on persevering goes a long way toward determining the success of your product or business. After all, if you don’t believe in it and aren’t passionate about it, why should others be? So get in the right frame of mind and then stay there.
6. Become the customer
Rather than just focusing on selling customers something, become the customer for the day. Once you put yourself in their shoes, look at and evaluate your product to see what it needs, what is missing, etc.
7. Identify your market
It is important that you know your target market to the best of your ability. Sure, things may change. You may have people buying that you never expected and others not buying that you banked on. But if you can narrow down your target market, you will have more success in finding them, reaching them, and selling to them.
Keep in mind that these are only guidelines. They can’t absolutely determine success or failure of your product. You can’t account for every little thing that may happen once you launch your product. But they can help guide you and give you some insight as to what you can expect. There is no doubt that you will learn something about your market and product that can be useful by engaging in each of these steps.
Take the time to learn all you can about your market and what people need before launching your product. This insight can help you in your quest for success. Plus it is cool to say you have a crystal ball method to figuring out what will fly in your business and what won’t!