Last post, we discussed how the best business ideas solve a problem for someone. Once you have come up with a solution, you need to ask:
Will anyone pay for this?
Before you invest too much time and money in your business, you need to test whether it is something people are willing to pay for. There are many ways to do this and most of them are free or low cost. The reason this step is important is that if you don’t test this, you may spend your time and money launching a product that people don’t actually want.
Like this…
The absolutely best way to test is to ask people to buy. That’s because people are generally positive about your business if you ask them, but it’s when you ask them to part with their cash that their true feelings show!
However if it’s not possible to test your idea by selling it, then there are many other ways you can test whether you are on to a winner.
The most important take away here is: don’t launch your business without testing the market. The more you get out there, the more people you talk to, the more hard data you collect, the better your product or service will solve the problem and the more likely it is to succeed when you launch.
And if you find there is no interest? Then you can go back to the drawing board. Find another solution, or another problem or tweak what you have and test again. There’s no such thing as perfect first time in business!
The next post in the series about planning and taking action is here
How can you test your business idea? Do you think it is always possible to test? Join the discussion in the comments…
If you’ve found this helpful, you’ll love my video series on how to use my proven process to create great business ideas that give you an unfair advantage. Click on the banner below to get access.
I have an idea but it is more of a service than a product. How can I interview people to see if they would use the service?
Easy. Just find potential customers and speak to them about it. Even better, try to sell it to them. Most people are happy to help out. You would be surprised.
So true! Hit the nail on its head again! Paying customers are a first validation. Then, it’s important to follow up with them and learn why they bought the product and how it can be tweaked to provide even more value.
I’ve done that and base on buyers’ feedback tweaking my software product for a 1.1 release.