Ideas are a dime a dozen. Eighty percent of new products produced, even after extensive research and testing, will fail, and 99 percent of new ideas turn out to be impractical. Before falling in love with your ideas, subject them to rigorous evaluation.
First of all, is it effective? Will it work? Will it make a meaningful difference? Is it a good enough idea to make a meaningful improvement over the current situation?
Efficiency
Is your new product or service efficient? Is it a significant improvement over the status quo? I have seen many people come into the market with their goods and services thinking people will buy them because they are going to sell them with great skill and determination. What you need to ask, though, is this: “Why would customers stop buying something they are already happy with and buy your product instead?”
Your product always has to be a significant improvement over what currently exists.
Compatibility
Is your new product or service compatible with human nature? Is it compatible with the way people like to shop? Today, people are shopping online for the things that they want rather than going through the hassle and inconvenience of getting in their cars and driving across town to buy from a store. Many other people will still travel to the store for the buying experience. This is because people like to touch, taste, smell, and feel things before they buy them. They like the experience of live shopping.
Which of these methods of buying is most popular with the products you sell?
Do You Like It?
Do you like the new product or service innovation yourself? Would you buy it and use it in your home or business? Would you recommend it or sell it to your mother, father, brother, sister, or best friend? The most successful innovative breakthroughs in the fastest-growing companies are those that the company owners and executives really believe in, enjoy using, and would recommend to anybody.
Is your new product or service idea compatible with your goals? Is it an idea to which you or someone else can make a total commitment? If it is not compatible with what you want to accomplish in your life so that you can commit yourself wholeheartedly, maybe you should pass it on to someone else.
Is It Simple?
Finally, is it simple? In the final analysis, almost all great innovations are simple. They can be explained in twenty-five words or less. The customer in the marketplace can hear a description of the innovation and say, “Yes, that’s good. That’s what I want. I’ll take it. That’s what I need.”
Simplicity is the key to success in introducing a new product or service because it has to be sold by ordinary people, and ordinary people are not necessarily experts in all the offerings they sell. It has to be bought by ordinary people, and ordinary people cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of the product or service. They might not easily comprehend the product or its true value.
Is the timing right? Is it practical now? Sometimes an idea comes to market too soon or too late. A great idea for a luxury product is likely to have trouble catching on in a recession. Similarly, a discount item may flop in a boom time.
Is it feasible? Is it worth it to engage in the time, work, and cost to produce and deliver the new product or service?
1. Discipline yourself to ask the “brutal questions” about your product or service idea, and especially solicit the opinions of your current and potential customers before you invest in bringing a new product or service to the market.
2. Remember the Golden Rules of business success. Rule number one: The customer is always right. Rule number two: When in doubt, refer back to rule number one.