Why it’s important
Lots of businesses fail when they focus more on their own needs than on the needs of the customers. BCC’s custom market validation programme takes a customer-centric approach. You’ll find out whether your product fits the customers’ needs or whether you need to change it before they’ll be interested in it.
Maybe you made a square widget that they’d really, really use if only you’d made it round. You need to know the customers’ needs sooner rather than later, before you launch into the market. And guess what? You’ll also learn a lot more. You’ll learn about what the competitors are doing and how businesses (and customers, for that matter) in your sector speak. You’ll be able to use that kind of information for your communications and marketing.
What can I expect?
When you validate a product, there are a lot of things that come through – sometimes the lessons are ones that surprise us. In some areas of business, the product does take a back seat to the experience and background of the founder. For example, if you are launching a company that makes a revolutionary new teat washing apparatus to use on dairy cows, your customers – whether that’s the end user/farmer or distributors – will want to know that you understand how they do their job and what problems they face.
BCC’s market validation programme won’t cost you much money but you will need to invest some time. You’ll work with BCC staff on the exercise; they’ll offer you advice and support and if the going gets tough, some pretty good ideas too.
