Any business operates solely through the sale of goods or services.In that case, if you have no one buys, talk about the construction of an own business sense.
However, organizing and running a business from scratch, you do not know for sure how much of the product will be able to sell, and how many will be able to attract customers.To solve this problem, you need to find out the demand for services in the segment to which you plan to work.
difficulties in determining demand
To start to define in order to find out why the demand for your product is not as easy as we would like.The answer is obvious: the sale and trade - things very practical, as the dynamics of their development is influenced by many real factors.I predict some of them can not in any way, except to identify practical way.Here we have a picture that we have not yet begun to offer their paid services, but we want to know how many people are willing to buy them.Without immediate start of work it makes it very difficult, but it is real.Actually, on this and we will try to tell you in this article.
Ways to study demand
There are a lot of tricks and moves in order to "test the market" - learn the demand for goods and services, where do we want to sell.The simplest, but least accurate method - an analysis and a general description of the details of your future business.This technique will not allow you to discover how many people will order your product or service, but you will know what they are, what they want and need.Simply put, analytically, you can create a portrait of the buyer, and then just logically determine: how many of these people, if you can find them in what way about your product they will be known, and so on.Details on how this is done, we'll go on.
After the analytical method you can try to take the first practical steps.It is also a set of measures that allow to obtain a more or less accurate data on what will be the demand for paid services.It is noteworthy that this is done without the actual business organization, there is a risk of losing the invested funds in the case of the use of such techniques is minimal.
Doing market research
To understand how the analytical approach that we take a situation as an example.Imagine that you want to rent a kiosk with shawarma in the metro.To do this you need to know if you have demand for, say, a sales volume of 100 a day, or not.To clarify this, we will explore the potential buyer.Your customers are likely to be passers-by, who had just arrived or leaving somewhere using the subway.It is possible that most of these people are hungry.Number of people who will buy you a meal, you do not miscalculated, but so it looks like your target audience (those who are interested in service), you are about to define.Then we turn to the other factors: competition, the employment rate of people of their status.There are other stalls with shawarma somewhere nearby?Whether to buy food from them?Is there enough here developed this business?Normal is a demand for food in the area?Or metro station in question is located in a remote, deaf community?And so on.By that characterization, we got exploring the target audience, we use other factors: the mood of the people, their purpose, the terrain, the visibility of the object of trade (in the case of this sector) and other nuances.All of them will help to characterize the services market, the demand - and supply, respectively, set up under it.
Community competitors
Another way to find out the demand can be called a more accurate and useful because it has a direct relationship with the practice.He is to receive a piece of the experience of your future competitors, who already know the demand for services in a niche where you want to work.Of course, directly do it is unlikely to succeed, because your competitors on the market is not interested in you hindered sales of goods or services by offering their own.But, applying the trick, to learn something, too, can.
example, refer to competitors as a buyer.Of course, not every business is possible (for example, the demand for construction services in this way does not know).But try in those niches where the sale and consumption of goods or services takes place at one point, it is possible.In our case, with a stall shawarma, and you can go to their competitors, they have to buy something and it seemed to inadvertently start a conversation.You can talk about anything, telling about their problems, translating trader on spiritual conversation.So you position the man to himself, to find out some useful business information.This method, although he is wrong morally, can give a good result.Check
demand for practice
addition to communicating with competitors, demand for services is also possible to find a practical way and without having to run the business.Again, this approach does not work in all areas of business, but there are niches where it's easy to do.
For example, if you want to become a manufacturer of some products and are planning to sell it via social networks, you can try to arrange a fictitious realization of their products (using false information).For example, you want to start a group, put the wrong photo, write a description.You will see how many people will turn to you, and you will understand, though not entirely objective, what would be the demand.
In other areas, such as, for example, street trade, the flow of potential customers to identify even easier.Become a future competitor to the point and count how many people have gone to him.You can also try to determine the number of those who made the purchase.
Different approaches in other areas of business
many ways by which determines the demand, indicate that it is impossible to identify any one approach for different business areas.Furthermore, different sales approaches can form a completely different level of demand.For example, the demand for educational services, promoted through social networks, will be different from the demand in the advertising of the same niche in another way, for example, the distribution of leaflets.Applying one or another method of evaluation must take into account that it assumes a particular source of sales, and able to provide whatever amount of customers.It is best to use several techniques in the complex, the end result was as objective as possible.
What to do, knowing the demand?
In the construction business to know what will be the demand for services, it is important to correctly calculate all sources of income and have them direct their spending.If you are sure that you will buy, for example, 100 sandwiches with tea, it is appropriate to make the purchase of a new kettle.And so - in all business areas.A potential buyer - is the "Golden Fleece" is looking for entrepreneurs, and focusing on it, you need to build your own business.
