A problem we’ve all seen too often is when a product or service is dreamed up, and no one wants to buy it. Most of us can list four or five examples of this right away. These duds should have been abandoned before too much time and money was invested.
What are the two major causes of this problem?
- Family and friends. The people closest to you are actually the worst at helping you develop a product or service customers will pay to use. F&Fs are there to support you in your endeavors and not to act as your product development team.
- Faux customers. Many of us nod in approval of some idea… until we have to pay for it. The feedback with the highest value is that from someone who will whip out their checkbook to become your first customer.
How do we solve this problem and avoid becoming another failure statistic? The solution is extremely simple: never develop anything by yourself; pick up the phone, get face to face, and go pound the streets.
Here is a quick example about how I approached my personal marketing challenge and how “customer listening” not only led me to a “Eureka moment”, but also saved me tons of time. I was running out of business cards and working on developing my business card 2.0. I did not want to merely tweak what I had, I wanted something new. My big issue with business card 1.0 was that very few people could tell what I did for a living by looking at it. I rushed into designing it and did not bother to ask my customers for their input.
So I got feedback from the general public (via Twitter), close friends in professional circles (via Facebook and e-mail), and perspective customers (face to face) that I knew would tell me their true opinion. People told me how to sell myself to them, what they really valued, and what they really did not like. The “Eureka moment” I mentioned above occurred when I realized that the vast majority of people are much more likely to tell you what you really need (not want) to hear, if you establish trust and enable/reward candor.
I case you are wondering, here is how the finished business card looks like.
Front
Back
Hi, my name is Apolinaras Sinkevicius, but most call me Apollo. I am the guy who takes care of the day-to-day business and technology of rapidly growing companies. 12 years in managing the "nuts and bolts" of companies and being a steward of corporate cultures makes me a seasoned operations professional and right hand person to founders and CEOs.
