As a heart-centered entrepreneur it is natural to want to serve your customers to the best of your ability. You want to know what the PERFECT product or service is that will WOW them. Because who wants to offer something that no one will buy.

If there’s one thing that holds promising entrepreneurs back from launching their business, it’s this: a lack of confidence in what they have to offer. Sure, you think that new 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 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? [pullquote]Know what your customers want most and what your company does best. Focus on where those two meet. ~ Kevin Stirtz[/pullquote]

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, Facebook Surveys (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 product or service that’s practically guaranteed to sell.

Listen to Their Complaints

Some companies would feel complaints from customers means profits are diminishing. But this is far from the truth. If your company is offering great value and there are customer complaints which I call them “customer requests” then take note of them. Your customers are trying to tell you what they prefer to have or want if you will just listen. Then create it.

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.

If you have a membership group and people are leaving then ask them why and what could you do better. Once they tell you don’t ignore it but implement it especially it you know it can bring value to the group. 

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.

If you have used one of these methods then share with us your results in the comments below.