If you’re smart, you will have tested out your offering with as many people as possible in order to gauge its potential, as well as to iron out any problems.
If there’s a strong take-up among early adopters, it’s tempting to indulge in hockey stick-like projections about your revenue. If they like it, others will, right?
Unfortunately, many businesses fail because they’ve failed to properly assess demand. Great ideas, unfortunately, don’t make great businesses.
Is there a genuine consumer need for what you’re doing? What gap in the market do you fill? And, critically, how will you be able to scale your business beyond the initial early adopters?
Without proper answers to these key questions, your sunny expectations are based on very little.
“I’ve seen many examples of businesses that were pushing a product or service that was simply too limited in its application or delivery,” says Peskett. “The result was that there were too few buyers, leading to insufficient revenue to sustain the business.”
“It’s far better to identify and challenge any assumptions you have about your business idea and then test those assumptions with a selection of paying customers.”
“Get feedback about your product or service, pricing, frequency of purchase, distribution, expectations and post-purchase experience. Then capitalise on these insights by taking a full-scale, fully-funded strategy to the market.”
Story continues on page 3. Please click below.
