Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

THE REAL PROBLEM
I often work with companies that are trying to market a new prod-
uct or service and they are having difficulties in the marketplace.
When we seek the reasons for their business problems, they usually
give me long lists of difficulties with advertising, promotion, people,
sales, distribution, delivery, and service. However, the core problem
is always that their 
sales are not high enough
.
I then ask them three questions. They are questions that you can
ask when considering any potential product or service for any market.
The first question is,
“Is there a market?”
Are there people who
can and will buy this product or service in competition with other
products and services currently being offered? Many people start
businesses without realizing how hard it is to attract a customer
away from another supplier if the customer is currently happy with
the other vendor.
If the company’s answer is, “Yes, there is definitely a market for
what we sell. There are people who want it and are willing to buy it
from us,” my next question is then,
“Is the market large enough?”
Many a product or service is good, valuable, and worthwhile, but
there is not a large enough market to justify investing all the time
and energy necessary to bring it to the market. There are better and
more profitable uses for the money.