| credits: File copy
Experts say with a little direction, many good ideas can be turned into money-making ventures. ADEMOLA ALAWIYE writes on how to make business ideas useful
Having a good idea is not enough to think your prospective business will be successful. You need to come up with a solid strategy to turn your idea into something that can make money.
It is one thing to have an idea and another to effectively act on it so as to positively impact your business and society. Management consultants say to successfully turn an idea into a business; one has to try certain measures to ascertain the usefulness of such initiative. They note that the cost of implementing a wrong idea in business is often expensive and may eventually lead to the collapse of such venture. Below are some simple ways to turn an idea into a business, according to experts:
Test the idea
The Managing Consultant, Linx Consult Limited, Mrs. Bukola Adegoke, says an entrepreneur should always look out for easy ways to test whatever idea he has before carrying it out on a large scale. She states that you must find out really fast if an idea would work. According to experts, if the idea is not feasible, the best thing is to move on and find a new one. They advise that you don’t test an idea with your friends. This is because you want to know whether people will reach into their pockets and pull out cash in response to your business initiative. This, experts say is the ultimate test.
Understand your target market
Your idea must take into cognisance your market, experts say. This should be the first thing to know. It is important you understand your market by knowing exactly where your product fits, the difference which it has from other products, and whether you can sell at the right price point in that category. Experts say the ideal situation is to find a niche where everyone else has left crumbs on the table and develop your idea.
Calculate production cost
To make an idea become reality often requires certain cost, no matter how little this may be. As you shape your idea, you must determine the cost of manufacturing your dream product. You should be able to decide whether the product can be manufactured at a price point where you can make profit. If you are finding this tough to decide, you may contact contract manufacturers, send over specs, find out if it can be made and the cost of making it. Experts say to protect your idea, have manufacturers sign an undertaking, or better still file a provisional patent.
Fix a competitive price
As you grow the idea into a product, you must avoid overpricing this product. The Managing Director, Sotice Investment Company Limited, Mr. Adedayo Toluwase, says if an entrepreneur’s price is on the high side, he won’t be competitive enough in the market. Experts say on the flip side, competing on price alone is a losing battle you probably won’t win. They note that your profit margin must allow you to compete day in and day out; if it won’t, move on to another idea. Once you are not making money from the idea then it is not worth continuing.
Gather feedback
You have to work hard to successfully pull through in business, experts say. Once you have an idea and have developed it into a product or service, you must make people know about it and try to gather enough feedback. This can be achieved by stopping at local retailers, going to regional trade shows and exhibiting your product to people in a position to make decisions. When this is done, you would have succeeded in pulling your idea forward instead of you pushing it, experts observe. Smart people will tell you right away if you have something market worthy or if you don’t.
Try the idea again
As stated earlier, before you go into full production, you must test your idea. This can be done by setting up a webpage that shows your product to a larger audience. You can also take advantage of the social media to show the benefits of your product and find ways to learn what people think.
Experts say the goal of this initiative is to get a few genuine green lights that show you have something–or enough red lights to show you don’t. And don’t worry about people stealing your idea, experts says. Never operate based on fear. Eventual success will be based on shelf space and customer service: getting customers and retailers to love you.
Do another round of calculations before you carry out the idea on a larger scale. The magic is in the ideas, experts say. The means is in the numbers. Once you understand your manufacturing costs you can put all the pieces together and decide if you really want to take your shot or not.
Start small
We have discussed this principle many times in our previous articles. You must learn to start small in business as the risk associated with starting small is often minimal. Sell one. Then sell two. Start small, learn about your product, see how it looks at retail and determine changes you should make to packaging and marketing, experts note. When you start small and stay close to your customers, it’s a lot easier to make smart changes as you carry on in the business.
Experts say with a small idea it doesn’t take a lot of capital to start your business. Finding the money to inaugurate your venture is not easy, so by starting small you won’t end up with a garage full of unmarketable products. Start with your local community before expanding to other regional markets.
0 comments:
Post a Comment