Podcast Summary
Reducing business risk through crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing helps businesses create products or services based on customer demand, reducing the risk of unsold inventory and costly mistakes.
Derisking business failures and market uncertainty can be achieved through crowdsourcing - creating products or services based on what your customers have already expressed they want. This approach, which is gaining popularity but still not widely used by many businesses, significantly reduces the risk of producing inventory or offerings that may not sell. By listening to your customers' needs and desires, you can confidently invest in your business and avoid costly mistakes, such as those made by Atari with their unsold ET game cartridges. This approach doesn't require advanced knowledge or a sixth sense about the market; it simply requires genuine care for your customers and a willingness to listen to their feedback. Crowdsourcing is not a new concept, but its importance in reducing risk and ensuring business success cannot be overstated.
Ask customers directly for their needs and desires: Identifying customer pains, challenges, and desires saves time, makes lives easier, and builds a successful business.
Understanding your customers' needs and desires is crucial for business success. Instead of assuming what people want, it's essential to ask them directly. By identifying their biggest pains, challenges, and desires, you can tailor your products or services to meet their needs and create a wider market. This not only saves time but also makes your customers' lives easier, faster, and happier. Asking what they want and need is essentially their "license to print money." Many people fail to do this, either due to a rush to market or an ego-driven attachment to their ideas. However, it's a simple and effective way to build a successful business. For example, authors can conduct surveys to determine which book topic their audience wants most, ensuring they meet the market's demand. It's essential to remember that you don't know what you don't know, and the best way to discover your customers' needs is by asking them directly.
Understanding audience needs through surveys and social media: Survey your audience and use social media for market research to create successful information products or services. Identify customer needs and preferences through preselling or pre-launch strategies to ensure sales and build a loyal fan base.
Engaging with your audience and understanding their needs can lead to successful information products or services. The speaker shared his experience of conducting a survey among his property investor community and was surprised to find that most wanted a book on leveraging and outsourcing. He realized that writing about this topic would reduce risk and ensure sales, as many had expressed interest. This approach, called preselling or pre-launch, allows creators to gauge demand and create offerings that resonate with their audience. The speaker also mentioned the importance of social media as a highly leveraged task for market research, as it offers insights into market trends and customer preferences. He emphasized that seeing social media as a strategic tool rather than an operational one can lead to creating products that satisfy customer needs and build a loyal fan base. This concept is known as Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in the tech industry, where creators focus on building a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and gather feedback for future iterations.
Listening to audience needs and creating an MVP: Iterate and pivot based on customer feedback, test launches, and title testing to create a product that exceeds customer expectations, leading to repeat buyers and a captive market.
When creating a product or service, it's essential to listen to your audience's needs and respond with a minimum viable product (MVP). This approach allows for iteration and pivots based on customer feedback, ensuring that the final product aligns with their evolving needs. Additionally, test launches are crucial to mitigate risk and gather valuable data before a full launch. The process of testing titles, for instance, can provide valuable insights into what resonates with your audience. Rushing the launch process without test launches can be risky, potentially leading to a product that doesn't meet the market's needs. By following this method, you can create a product that not only meets but exceeds your customers' expectations, resulting in repeat buyers and a captive market.
Test and iterate titles, gather feedback, engage audience: Iterate titles for maximum impact, gather feedback through surveys, engage audience to build a strong community
The success of a product or service, be it a book or a podcast, heavily relies on its title and the feedback from the audience. The title is the first thing that attracts potential customers, and even small iterations in the title can significantly impact downloads or sales. Additionally, feedback from the community, fans, followers, and customers through a simple survey using the "what should I start, stop, keep" model can provide valuable insights for improvement. Moreover, asking what would make them recommend the product or service to their friends engages customers and helps build a strong community. The crowdsourcing model, where customers are involved in the creation of products and services, results in a presold audience, increasing the chances of sales and referrals. So, always remember to test and iterate titles, gather feedback, and engage your audience to build a successful product or service.
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