You might be here:
You have a great new product or service that you and your associates love. Early adopters should climb all over each other for a look.
But are you HERE?
But what have you done to test the concept against the realities of the marketplace? Have
you developed a prototype, alternate pricing schemes, even a PowerPoint mockup to show to potential buyers? I would be very, very nervous without testing the product in the market as early as possible, ready to make changes and enhancements before committing to production and release.
Even with a perfect product, is the market ready for this?
Will you have to be both the evangelist for the product and for its marketplace as well? Few early-stage companies have the resources to do both.
One way to test your market early…
[Email readers, continue here…] There are formal focus group organizations to help you, or you can attempt to test the market yourself by calling together a variety of potential users and asking a third party to facilitate a meeting where the product is exposed to the group and a conversation freely formed allowing the participants to agree with the premise or reject the product as useless to them, all without personalities getting in the way.
No matter how you plan to test, make that plan an integral part of the development cycle, as early as possible so changes will not be costly. Do NOT rest until you test.
Lord knows I’ve made this mistake. I introduced a new App for art galleries to use allowing customers to configure their own wall art. It was a brilliant idea. After developing the App and casting bronze sculptures that you could place on a cool bronze back-drop using the Point-of-Sale App, rolling it out to a few art galleries, and training the Sales Consultants to use it, it flopped like a fish out of water. The Sales. Consultants had zero interest in using it as a sales tool. Ugh!!!
With a bit of levity, I would say from my performance last week, my product is not quite ready for market…but it was a fun rehearsal. C
For all who do not know: Clarence Treat whose comment is above was a member of the New Christy Minstrels, traveled with the group worldwide, and his experiences are amazing to listen to. He is referring to his recent “preview” performance this month of a solo program he’s produced at the age of 85. – Dave