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Posted by A. B. Dada on February 3rd, 2006
If you’re looking to get into your own business and have picked a market to sell to, it is very important to make sure your market is prepared to accept your product or service. If you haven’t talked to your competitors and those close to you, do that first. After you’ve contemplated the answers you’ve received, it is smart to see if there are any holes that have recently opened from someone leaving the same business in your market. I’ve seen business fail in very profitable areas because another business in the same field had recently failed, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of consumers.
When I do a market survey or a market analysis, I always try to find who previously failed in the field I am entering. The Internet has made this much easier today than it had been even just 3 years ago. Google and Yahoo are great mechanisms to try to find who in your region had previously tried what you’ll soon be trying. My favorite search terms are city, business type, “out of business and see what pops up. For example, I might try Chicago, lawn mowning, “out of business” as my search term.
Check forums specific to the industry, don’t be afraid to ask questions. If by chance you do find that someone had tried and failed, your next step is to find out who they were serving, and how they failed to provide what that region needed.
This is a tricky step, but it is one that shouldn’t be ignored. I’ve actually backed out of businesses I had planned to open because I had found out that the region I was hoping to sell to was not too interested in my product or service, specifically due to others before me who had ruined the business for the short term. While my advice today may not have very strong specific actions, it is important to try your hardest to find answers that are hard to find. If the answers were easy, there’d be many people before you selling the service or product you’re planning on offering.
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