Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: Seeking wisdom concerning potential customers

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Array
    owls-hawks-eagles's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Between great lake ontario and Syracuse
    Posts
    7

    Default Seeking wisdom concerning potential customers

    I told someone I wanted to design my product for customers who are like me, which this person immediately disagreed with. I am now confused because it makes sense to me to think about my needs because I am so familiar with what I want but am I essentially wrong?

  2. #2
    Post Impressionist
    Array
    vangogh's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Boulder, Colorado
    Posts
    15,059
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    First welcome to the forum and thanks for joining the community.

    You'll probably get different opinions on this. Some will tell you that you can't assume everyone is just like you and they'd be right to say it. Others will tell you that if you want to sell a product to others you should first make something you would like. Those people would be right too.

    Why I think both groups are right is because you'll inevitably have different types of people potentially interested in your product. Some will be like you and others won't. You represent one segment of your potential market so by designing something you would buy your product should appeal to others like you. And by designing something you really love you should be able to get some other people passionate about your product.

    But you only represent one segment of your potential market. Are there enough people like you to make your product profitable? Maybe, maybe not. Most likely you still want to appeal to people that are different than you and so you'll need to design your product in ways that might not always be best for you so that it will appeal to the larger market.

    I hope that makes sense.

    By the way I edited your post just a bit. I'm guessing you were writing in Word or something similar and then copied here. It made your font very large so I removed the code resizing it from the default. If you can find a way to post without the larger font it would be appreciated. Thanks.
    l Join me as I share my creative process and journey as a writer | StevenBradley.me
    l Design, Development, Marketing, and SEO Tutorials | Steven Bradley's Notebook
    l Get my book about Design Fundamentals

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Array
    owls-hawks-eagles's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Between great lake ontario and Syracuse
    Posts
    7

    Default cool

    thanks for quick reply, i see your point. My product has a rather large customer base already, however, some (like me) are alienated by very inflated prices. I can offer the same product for very little cost to myself. This situation seems ripe for exploiting. Any other thoughts?

  4. #4
    Post Impressionist
    Array
    vangogh's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Boulder, Colorado
    Posts
    15,059
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    I'm not really sure what you're asking. Price is something that should be set by what the market will bear. No matter what price you set some will think it's too expensive and some will be willing to pay more for it.

    In general it's not a good idea to compete based on price. Someone else will always be able to sell for less than you do. To compete on price you need to be a Wal-Mart or similar where you can afford to sell at a loss for a time to undersell your competition.

    You're better off selling on value. Give people a reason to pay a little more for your product. Competing on price is never a good idea for a small business.
    l Join me as I share my creative process and journey as a writer | StevenBradley.me
    l Design, Development, Marketing, and SEO Tutorials | Steven Bradley's Notebook
    l Get my book about Design Fundamentals

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Array
    huggytree's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Mukwonago, WI
    Posts
    3,053

    Default

    what is your product...hard to give advice without having an idea what were talking about..

    is your product apples or cell phones or a chair....the advice may change depending on what it is....

    i follow the money...if you can make it a good product that someone else would rather have instead of the product which you like why not?...make it good...thats all that counts...

    for deciding on what to charge for what i do i first find out what my actual minimum cost is..or where i break even...then i look at the market to decide how much profit i can make. then decide if your going to be on the low/middle/high end of that market...if your product is the highest quality product you can get id go high, if its crap then id go low
    Last edited by huggytree; 01-27-2009 at 08:30 PM.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Array
    owls-hawks-eagles's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Between great lake ontario and Syracuse
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Thanks for bearing with me VanGogh and Im so glad people are responding so quickly. Im trying to be concise, but I realize that makes my stuff confusing.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Array
    owls-hawks-eagles's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Between great lake ontario and Syracuse
    Posts
    7

    Default

    "..make it good...thats all that counts..." Thanks huggy, very encouraging!

  8. #8
    Moderator
    Array
    Dan Furman's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Kingston, NY
    Posts
    1,258

    Default

    It depends on the product and market, really. Some great ideas got started because someone said "I wish there was a product that did X" and then did something about it.

    But that can be taken to an extreme, too. "Gee, I can never find a red shirt that I like. If only someone would open a store that sold nothing but red shirts... heyyyyyyyy"

    I will agree with others that said competing on price is a bad move. Especially if there's an established price point out there - there's a reason for that price point.

    Lastly, if you want more relevent advice, it would help if you mentioned some more details. You really need not worry about spilling the beans and someone stealing your idea - I guarantee thousands of others have already thought of your exact same idea (especially if there's already a large customer base.)
    Dan Furman - Copywriter, Business Author, Entrepreneurial/Business Consultant
    Business Writing Services | Website Copywriting Services | Blog here

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Array
    seolman's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Heredia, Costa Rica
    Posts
    434

    Default

    Dan - you made a really good point in one of your other posts that really applies here: be an OREO. Some people like Fig Newtons, some people like Oreos.

    The same philosophy applies to products. Be different - stand out. Don't be just like everyone else. It's true you must be appealing but that doesn't have to mean just another imitation.
    Singer/Songwriter/SEO Guy | Indigo Cowboy Band

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Array
    orion_joel's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    1,242

    Default

    I think one main point to make here is that for small and new businesses heavily discounting your product is rarely a way to massive success. While you may find that the price of the product that you want to sell is heavily inflated, you need to look at the market reasons that are causing that.

    The other thing that you will find is that if you discount your product to much you have the potential to cause your own business much more damage, then the good you think that you are going to do for others. For example the biggest problem can affecting the market to an extent that you will not be able to make a reasonable profit.

    I knew a company that started out by copying a local discounter in the same industry there product list and prices almost straight out. The problem they found was that while they could compete on price their smaller business model could not accommodate the low margin that they had to work with. While the company they copied was doing ok on the same price list because they had a lot more market visibility sold a lot more volume, and had the model to accommodate it. However this company only survived 2 months.
    Joel Brown
    My Travels

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •