Is your product what your customers really want? Or have you developed your product on the basis of what you think they want?
Initially, I thought my pumpkins were sweet and tasty and this is all that my customers wanted. As I talked to my customers, I realized that they wanted more. They loved the flavor of my pumpkins and were interested in other pumpkin products, such as pumpkin juice and pumpkin cake.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. The same concept applies in business: the value of your product is in the eye of the customer.
There is no point in developing a product that no one wants to buy. For example, I thought that pumpkin candy might be something that people would love to eat. But when I talked with many of my customers, I found out that they preferred candies with other fruit flavors.
I was so happy that I hadn’t gone ahead with my pumpkin candy production but that I had consulted with the customers first. Instead, on the basis of customer feedback, I decided to produce pumpkin cake, pumpkin wine and other products that they customers said they wanted.
At the end, my customers bought these new products and I even got new customers who came to try out these new products.
Now, let’s think about your product and what your customer needs. You can start testing your ideas with a close friend or family member to get their feedback. What do they think about it? What needs does it fill? Is this friend representative of the broader population?