Be Sure That You Have a Great
Business Idea Before You Put Time and Money into It.
How to be sure that you have a
great business idea before you put time and money into it. There are four great
ways for you to test any product or service idea before you start a business
and built upon it. Number one, seek out people who are already in the same
business and ask their opinions of the product or service. Many people have
saved themselves an enormous amount of time and money by finding that people
who are already in the business wish they hadn’t invested the time or money to
get in the business in the first place. So go and talk to them. Ask them what
they think about the business. Ask them if they would recommend that someone
else get into the business. Don’t be shy or secretive.
ASK FOR FEEDBACK ON YOUR IDEA
Every so often, at seminars, I have
people come up to me and ask me if I would give them some advice on their
business, and I say, “well, what is your idea?” and they wont tell me what their
idea is because they are afraid someday will steal their idea. The fact is that
idea. The fact is that ideas are a dime a dozen. So be perfectly open. Tell people
what you are thinking of doing. And get feedback from people who are already in
the business. That alone has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars. It may
even have saved my financial life on a couple of occasions.
ASK YOUR BANK MANAGER FOR ADVICE
Number two is to ask your bank
manager, who deals with commercial accounts, very often has a tremendously
accurate sense for what kind of business will succeed and what kind wont. One
5-minute interview with my bank manager a few years ago saved me $200,000
dollars in an investment. He pointed out to me the weaknesses in the particular
business I was looking at getting into, and I had no answer for him. So I
didn’t go into the business and the people who did lost everything that put
into it. Ask your bank manager. Your bank manager can be one of the very best
sources of business advice.
CHECK WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Number three, ask your friends, ask
your family, ask your acquaintances for information. Family members are very
good targets for market research. Ask your family and friends if they would buy
the product or service that you are thinking of offering. How much will they
pay for it? Listen to their questions. Listen to their criticisms. Listen to
their concerns, because if you cant answer their questions and concerns in a
logical and believable way, it could be that there is something wrong with your
idea.
TALK TO A POTENTIAL CUSTOMER
The fourth way to do market
research is to visit prospective customers for the product or service and ask
if they would buy it. If you are thinking of selling something to a company, go
to the type of company that you would sell it to and ask if they would buy it
if you produced it. If you are thinking of selling something through retail, go
to the retailer and ask them if they would buy it or sell it. Ask the customer.
Customers are very open and very candid and sometimes they will give you
insights that will be worth their weight in gold. If you are going to sell
through a retailer, ask the retailer if he or she could sell the product if
they were carrying it. Why or why not?
ACTION EXERCISES
First, visit people who are in the
same business and ask their opinions. Call them on the telephone. A person
already doing the business is the best source of advice in that business.
Secondly, ask your bank manager for
advice. Lay out your business plan or idea to him or her and ask for his or her
candid feedback. This could save you an enormous amount of time and money.
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