20 Steps to Evaluate Your Idea - #16 to #20
It is often difficult to figure out how to research your idea, especially if you have never been in business for yourself. You will need to decide if your idea has profit potential.
Use the following 5 steps as a guide to help you determine if your idea is worthwhile.
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16) Create a profile of your paying customer. |
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Your customers might be consumers or retail stores, wholesalers or manufacturers, government or other institutions. List as many points as you can about who you think will buy your product. If you are selling to a consumer market, try collecting magazine pictures of what you think your customer looks like. List their age, gender, marital status, income and try to describe their lifestyle. If you expect to sell to another business or organization, estimate what industries they are in, what kind of company, how long they have been in business, how many employees, their annual sales, what department would be interested in your offer, who their customers are, and anything else you can identify. |
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17) List and describe the features/benefits of your product or service. |
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State how these features will benefit your customer. Defining the features of your idea and determine what these features do for your customer. You will create a list of the selling points that you can use in your advertising, your brochures, and in your sales presentation. This will help you establish why your customer might buy your product or service. |
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18) Define the main geographic area you intend to sell to during your first year. |
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Are selling to your neighborhood? Your community? British Columbia ? The United States ? By defining where you are going to sell in your first year you immediately put yourself in focus. You will likely be able to figure out how many potential customers are located in this area. If you are selling to a large geographic area, you will probably need a good deal of money, marketing and resources. Defining this area makes it much easier to figure out what your needs are going to be. |
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19) What competitors are selling to this geographic area? |
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Once you determine who and where your customers are, you must determine whom you have to share them with. Find out if similar products are carried in retail outlets, similar companies advertise in the yellow pages or are listed in industry directories. |
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20) What price do these competitors charge? |
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Establish what your competitors charge and list selling points of their product or service. Try to find the industries wholesale and retail prices. |
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