One thing that holds many promising entrepreneurs back from launching their business, it’s this: a lack of confidence in their products. Obviously, you think that new course or workshop is a great idea, or you wouldn’t have worked o it, but how do you know it will sell? Even better, how do you know there will be a demand for it?
Imagine spending weeks, or even months of time – plus the cost of document design, graphics, video editing and everything else that goes 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
- Their preferred learning method (video, text, audio, etc.)
- What they feel the training is worth (what would they pay)
These three pieces will tell you everything you need to know to create a program that’s practically guaranteed to sell.
For a more in-depth solution to asking, check out Ryan Levesque’s ASK Method.
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 Facebook 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 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.
Edit, February 2019: I have a product I designed (Profit Mind Reader) that helps with all of the above. However, I have taken it off the market to re-design it, rename it, and up-date it for 2019. Feel free to contact me if you would like to be added to the waiting list for the new release, which is expected early April 2019.