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How to Test the Market for Your Products and/or Services
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It is enticing and intoxicating even, feeling of creating the new product service or wanting to share this with the entire world. It is a part of the reason you have decided to get in the business for yourself, the thrill of making something that the world has not seen before. However heady rush of creativity will fast turn into failure if you do not market test.
Why Is Market Testing Very Important
Testing is a large part of finding what works prior to jumping in the idea in the business world. No matter whether planning the postcard printing campaign, totally new business idea and launch of the new product and service; all the business decisions must get tested before completely exposed to the target audience. By market testing your product or idea, you can save yourself from a lot of expense and bad PR, if it is not popular and required.
Test on the Small Scale
Market testing generally involves taking the small-scale description of the business idea as well as getting your customer feedback. Some people constantly make crazy and new projects to prove –and more likely disprove. However, they hardly build the complicated product at full scale right at the gate. But, they scale this down and build a model that will demonstrate the idea but will not cost lots of money and time if they are wrong. Then they fine-tune this concept before ramping up to a large, and generally explosive, finale. You must market test for the same reason and build the small-scale models. Also, you cannot afford to get wrong on a large scale. Suppose it is a new restaurant venture, then you may have perfected all recipes, but till you know how some people may respond, it is dangerous to purchase everything necessary to open the new eatery.
Goal Practice Makes You Perfect
As an entrepreneur, it’s simple to become a little defensive to your idea. It is a good idea and the world has to hear this. But there is something about the incubation process that will distort reality as well as ruin the perfectly good project. You are exposed to the project for long that you have lost an ability to stay objective about this. Each mom thinks that her child is very beautiful. Each small business owner also thinks their idea is just perfect. But, the reality is it is not perfect, and not yet. And suppose you rush all imperfect ideas to the market, you may not survive the time it takes in perfect things.
Ideas for the Market Testing
But, work on a small scale, know the blemishes that have to get corrected, and you may ramp up the production with a lot of confidence. Not each market test has to be the same; stay creative and do what is good for you & small business.
Here’re some suggestions that will spark your creativity:
· Give away the prototypes of the product in exchange for the people answering the questionnaire.
· Use social media that will solicit ideas from friends online.
· Cater the event for a local organization that will test the market for your restaurant menu.
· Send the postcards to select an area with a link to the online survey about the business idea.
· Run the beta test for the services. Offer discount with the exchange to feedback.
· Set up the website with product and service described or have a survey at the end asking for the feedback.
But you opt to test for the small business, take criticism constructively. When people have negative things about your idea, then it is because you have created something that has forced them to react. Take an idea you may use, dismiss ones that you cannot, and make the idea the best it may be.
Introducing the new products and/or services without testing the market is just like jumping off the cliff in a sea, blindfolded and unthinkable, treacherous, life-threatening, and risky. Lots of new ideas as well as products are quite successful only because their creators have identified the unmet need in the market & verified the viability of this concept.
Your money and time are very valuable for you--you cannot afford to waste this by investing it in producing the product and service, which fails in a marketplace. The more you have tested the product prior to you produce or sell it, the more likely you can earn the profits and sales you desire. Remember, each dollar that you spend in the market testing can save you plenty f dollars of the losses later in the marketing process. Through right and the vigorous market, you will uncover the following information:
· Sales figures within the market for particular products and/or services
· Demand for the product and service in the market
· What these customers think of your product and service or what they think of your competitors, thus you may capitalize on the strengths
· Who are your customers
· How much your customers are keen to pay, thus you may figure out the competitive rate for them & realistic profits
· Where or how customers buy the product and service, thus you may establish effective distribution & marketing channels
· How you can position the products and/or services so you take benefit of the unique selling proposition
· Who you're direct & indirect competition is
· Which advertising, sales, promotion and display methods are effective
· Which governmental rules your products and/or services can be subject to the local, state as well as federal level
Here is how to start:
Develop the prototype, model, and description of the product and service that you may show to others. Many ideas for the new products and services do not work for the first time. With the model and prototype, you may photograph this and create a picture of some type and demonstrate this to the prospective buyer. It allows you to try this out yourself to ensure it works out. (Make sure you keep the right notes of all your research; you might come up with a better idea later.)
Know the price you may sell your product for in the current marketplace. You can get accurate prices as well as delivery dates from the suppliers, particularly if you are purchasing any product for resale. Determine all costs that are involved in bringing product and service to market: costs of the offices, shipping, equipment, breakage, loss, transportation, insurance, salaries, and more. Include the personal labor costs in the hourly rate as the cost of doing the business. Ask all your friends & family if they would buy the product at a price you may need to charge.
Go to the potential customer with a sample and/or prototype and ask what he/she would buy. Make sure you call on an individual who makes the buying decisions. Ask them how much he would pay for the product. Suppose people criticize the new product idea, you can ask them why and ask how the product can be modified in order to make it attractive.
Compare your product with many other products in the market. Ask, "Why will somebody switch & buy from me?" You can solicit negative views of others. Never fall in the love with your idea--be an optimistic pessimist just by looking for flaws in the marketing plan.
Visit the trade shows & exhibitions—they are a terrific place for getting immediate feedback on the new product. You may get in the trade show just by signing as a manufacturer / wholesale buyer. When are in, find what is available that is similar and that performs the same function as your product. Some companies marketing the same products may have their own products on the display—take a hard look at what they need to offer. Talk to the product buyers—the sophisticated buyers at a trade show will tell you whether your product is successful.
The only test of the product is the market test, and where you will take your product and service to the customer who will buy this to see he likes them. When you know the cost, make the sales call on the potential buyer. (An ability to sell a product is very important than other skills—it can give you the chance of sharpening yours.) Listen very carefully to objections and comments of a buyer—as their feedback is totally priceless.
Then when you have determined there is a large market for the product--at a price, you will need to charge in order to make the profit--immediately start thinking of the ways to improve the product & marketing. Continually tweaking the plans—then sticking just with the original ideas—can help to ensure the product's success.
When you choose to move ahead with the idea, you will have to start to do market testing on the small scale. Suppose you are creating a physical product, have the prototypes made so people will test this out and give feedback on the design & functionality. On the other hand, if you are creating a service, business online, and mobile app, make a simple and streamlined version or have the people start doing the beta testing, giving thoughts on the interface, overall satisfaction, and ease of use.
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