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Don’t Rely on any Evaluation Other than A Potential Licensee
I want to talk about how to evaluate your product idea.
I get this question all the time. People want to know: “Hey, do I have a good idea?” It’s something that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. Just the other day a bunch of really smart people showed me all the different ways to evaluate an idea using questionnaires, check-lists, and online evaluation tests. While these tools may help guide your thinking, they don’t show you if you have a GOOD idea. Can a check-list really evaluate whether you have a good idea or not? No! No one can do that: not your friend, not your family, and definitely not some online test. No online test will be able to determine whether a product has real-world significance.
The only way to know if your idea is great, or in this case marketable, is to show your idea to a company because that is the only opinion that matters. Most companies know their customers pretty darn well. They know enough about what works and what doesn’t and they will know if your product is likely to sell among their customers.
But at the end of the day, sometimes even companies get it wrong! It comes down to the consumer! It really does! I’ve seen a lot of ideas, including my own, that get licensed but when they are put on the shelves the customer doesn’t like them! I thought my product was a great idea, the company thought my product was a great idea, but at the end of the day the consumer didn’t purchase it. Here’s one example of a product of mine that didn’t sell well at retail. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.
So, how can you know whether your product might be licensed and purchased? You can ask yourself a few simple questions. This is what I do, I keep it pretty basic. Here are four questions to ask yourself to help evaluate whether people will want your product.
Steve Jobs had an excellent one-line benefit statement with his introduction to the iPod. He said, “How would you like a thousand songs in your pocket?” He didn’t explain what it was. He didn’t explain how it’s made. He didn’t talk about some of the features. The big benefit was right there in the statement! That was huge! That’s what you need to do: make sure your one line benefit statement is that strong.
Now, I have an additional fifth question for those who want even more detail. This step is not necessary right now, but eventually someone will need to do it.
Do you have to do this? No. I would rather the first four steps be completed before this one. The bottom line however is that this needs to get done, but not necessarily now or even by you. Most of the ideas I see people do not know if it can be made or not.
These are the questions I ask myself before examining an idea. Treat these questions like a checklist for a successful evaluation of your product. If people jump out of their seat when they hear your idea, it’s probably a good one. If you can show people how it works easily, it’s likely a great idea. And if the marketplace is wide and deep, then go for it!
Would you like to watch my YouTube video on this topic? Here it is:
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