Selling something is much harder than people think.
“Build it and they will come.”
What a load of s**t!
In the attention economy, people don’t passively go looking for things they’ve never heard of before.
But people often assume that simply having a good product is good enough. It’s not.
You need to ask the right questions before you know if your product or service is good enough to sell…
Do people want it? Have you shown friends, family, or focus groups? Have you got the opinions of communities online about your concept?
Can you make it for less than they’re willing to pay? The difference is your profit.
Is there anything else that exists like this on the market? Is yours going to be cheaper or better in any way? If not, why do it?
Have you created a proof of concept? Do you know if it’ll work before you make it?
Can you afford to manufacture it?
Can you afford to hold inventory? Don’t jump fully in and order 20,000 units.
Who is going to ship the product/answer customer support messages?
Focus on your first sale. Zero to one. Pre-sales are even better. Was it fast? Was the customer happy? What was the conversion rate?
Can you afford to market your product? Attention is rarely free.
After answering favourably to all of the above. Is the profit good enough? Is the juice worth the squeeze?
If you’re still confident in your new product after answering all of these questions... It’s probably good to sell.
Good luck.