Focus your market research effort on the products and services most important to your business. You might wish to provide all the products and services in the world, but time, money, and energy require some prioritizing and focus. For most types of business, I recommend that you focus on twelve or fewer products, services, or lines. Select which ones you will focus on for your market research, and file the rest away for future reference.
From the list of products and services you brainstormed in Step 12, select those on which you will focus your research effort.
Define Your Units
Products and services move through the marketplace in units. Units are used in every Industry as a way of measuring and communicating about products and services. A unit can be a product, a service or a line of products or services. It can also be a package deal, consisting of either products or services or a combination of both. The table shows possible examples of units.
When arranging your products and services into units, keep two things in mind. First, know how your competitors sell their goods and services to customers and use the Industry standard for your type of business. Second, consider how the customer will buy the goods and services from your business. Vegetables are typically sold by the pound or by the bundle. Dinner is sold by the plate. Gravel is sold by the truckload in Canada and by the burlap sack in Honduras.
View the Example: Define Your Units
Prioritizing Products and Services
How do you prioritize your products and services? There are different views to consider.
To keep things in perspective, depending on how well you already know your business, this might only be the first pass for your products and services. As you continue to research your market and become more knowledgeable about your business and Industry, you may find that you change your way of thinking many times between now and opening day. Stay curious, continue listening and keep an open mind. The only constant is change.
View this as an exercise to get you started on your market research–you have to begin somewhere. Start with the best list you can put together and let your customers guide you to fine tune it.
Prioritizing Products and Services Example
My concept began with a desire to serve entrepreneurs. I set out to establish a small business that markets a book, a CD and training resources for entrepreneurs. Here is a partial list.
Actions
Start a new document to record the following information. We recommend saving the file as your_business_name_products_and_services_ideas.doc
If you set up the folders recommended in Step 4, this document would be best saved in the “Market Research” Folder.
- Review all your product and service ideas.
- Prioritize which products and services you will focus on for market research purposes. If appropriate, keep the rest of the ideas for future reference.
- Research businesses similar to yours; then arrange your products or services into units. Keep your short-list to twelve or fewer units if possible.