Have a new idea for a service offering or business? How do you know if it’s going to fly? Answer: Listen to your audience.

There is one school of thought that encourages entrepreneurs to jump in with your newly thought out product or service without taking an eternity to over-think it. While I agree that spending too much time in inertia is not the path to success, there is one step that should be considered before you go live with your new offering.

Listen to your audience.

Ask them tons of questions about their needs, wants, wishes. You can do this with an in-person focus group, an email questionnaire, conference call or Zoom meeting, or other creative ways. The bottom line is to ask the people what they want.

Sometimes we come up with what we believe are stupendous ideas and are sure that everyone is going to love it and hop right on in. And sometimes they do.

But most times, the resulting reaction (also known as sales) from your prospects is disappointing. You thought you’d attract 50 new customers immediately but struggled to get 5 on board.

What happened?

Sometimes it boils down to a lack of clarity regarding what problem you solve and how you uniquely solve it.

Other times it’s because the problem you’re solving is not big or urgent enough.

So the process for generating a new product or service (an offer) goes like this –

  • Wake up at 5am with an outstandingly amazing idea in your head and jot everything down before you forget.
  • At a reasonable hour, make a list of at least 10 people you personally know who might think your offer is irresistible, and compose an email to each person asking for their help and a chance to talk about it.
  • Set a time to chat with them and ask them zillions of questions around the problem that your offer solves. Ask them for their brutal honesty about what they would and would not go for. Assure them that you’re not trying to sell them right now because you’re NOT – you’re just in the data gathering phase of your possible new offer.
  • Go back and compile all the answers you received. How does that compare to your original offer design?
  • Make changes to your offer to address the feedback. If need be, tear it down and start over.
  • Finalize the design of your offer and compare it one last time to the feedback to ensure it stands up to the test of “will they buy it?”
  • Now you’re ready to announce it to the world.

It’s important to keep a positive attitude and not be grumpy if the feedback is in opposition to your idea. This is a good thing! Your public has kept you from creating and publishing a disaster! Thank them and move on.

It really doesn’t have to take months to gather the information and make changes. Regardless of the time it takes, this “reality check” data gathering exercise must be done.

I’ve done this myself many times over the years and have regretted every dang time I neglected to go this route. Forgetting to listen to my audience cost me time and money (and hurt pride).

Questions? Want to include me in your data gathering exercise? Let’s talk!