How Much Will People Pay For Your New Product?

 

Most people believe their new product or service idea is a huge winner. But, to be sure, they tell some friends about the idea and ask what they think. Their friends, of course, have no idea but don’t want to hurt their feelings or be unnecessarily pessimistic. So they generally give a positive response to the idea.   

That is the wrong approach.

 Based on Rob Fitzpatrick’s experience as an entrepreneur, and several failing startups, he realized there was a better way 

and wrote a book titled, “The Mom Test.” that solved his problem.

Here is what he found out. To validate your problem, you have to interview people in your targeted market,

but you can not tell them what your product is.

That will bias their answer. Again, mainly in your favor.

People want to be friendly, and there are no consequences for their response as there is no product yet.  

You want to interview people about a subject other than your new product.

Then, during the interview, find a way to casually ask the person if they have the problem you think they do.

if they say yes, ask them how they dealt with the problem.   

Let them tell you exactly what the problem is

Let them tell you how serious the problem is and how they dealt with it.

The interviewee is now talking about his/her experience and giving you facts rather than opinions.

You need facts to make a go/no-go decision.

 Also, If the problem is serious, ask what it cost them (time, money, operational issues, etc.) to solve.

That will give you an idea of the price range you could charge.

Start with your  market representative list  

Get started by creating a list of about 30 people you can interview — that number would be statistically significant.

This is the kind of information you and your team will need to diagnose and create the solution.

Want even better product design ideas? 

You can now take this information as the basis for your diagnosis of the problem

and use your creative problem-solving skills to design an awesome product. 

See our blog post: How you can turn problems into opportunities.     

 The Next Step In Your Product Validation          

After you get your initial product or service designed, revisit people in the targeted market,

This time with your solution to see if they are willing to pay for your problem-solution fit.  

Conclusion

Don’t ask how much they would be willing to pay for your solution.

Ask them how they are solving the problem now and what they are paying to solve the problem including time delays, workarounds, performance, etc.

That will give you an idea of what you could look at in terms of the price range.

Jim Zitek l Harbor Capital Group

P.S. You can get more information about validating your new product idea by going to our website

and downloading our free report “ Learn The 4 Secrets That Guarantee Problem-Solution Fit.”

 P.P.S. If you know someone who could also use this information, please pass this on to them.