If there’s one thing that holds promising entrepreneurs back from launching their business, it’s this: a lack of confidence in their products or services. Sure, you think that a new candle, jewelry piece, all-natural cleaner, course or workshop is a great idea, but how do you know it will sell? 

Imagine spending weeks or even months of time—plus the cost of ingredients, materials, document design, video editing and all the other pieces that go along with it—only to discover it’s not what your audience wants or needs.  How frustrating would that be?

You don’t have to leave it to chance, though. There are plenty of ways to test your idea before spending the time and energy on a full launch. 

Just Ask

This is the simplest way to get a feel for what your market needs and wants. Simply ask them. Create a survey with Survey Monkey (or even a Google form) and send it out to your mailing list. For best results, keep it short, but do ask:

• What they’re struggling with or what are they craving for
• Their preferred learning method (video, text, audio, etc.), size, finish, scent etc.
• What they feel the product or service like training is worth (what would they pay),

These three pieces will tell you everything you need to know to create a program or product live that’s practically guaranteed to sell. 

Listen to Their Complaints

If you have a community (or are part of one) of ideal clients, pay attention to what they’re asking about the most. These are the things they need help with. For example, if you’re a business coach and your Facebook group is filled with questions about running Twitter ads, then clearly there is a need for some training in that area. 

Study Your Competition

Hopefully, you have a list of competitors and you’re reading their blogs and emails, and lurking in their Facebook groups. This is a great way to gain insight into what they’re doing—not to copy them, but to discover what’s hot right now. 

Consider buying their paid products as well. Again, you should never copy them, but you can either:

• Promote them as an affiliate
• Create a better, more comprehensive version
• Create a lite, lower-cost version

Creating products or services in a vacuum is a great way to waste a lot of time and money on programs that won’t sell. Instead, pay attention to what your market is asking for, find out what they’re willing to pay, and delve into your competition’s offers. The information you gain from these three activities alone will give you incredible insight into your market and what they want and need, and make it easy to create your own hot-selling program. 

Please share your thoughts and ideas directly in the comments. You never know how your words will connect with others that visit my site. Remember, being a business owner doesn’t mean you have to do it alone:)