Test sampling of your own product might actually improve sales

Testing the idea

New firms would be advised to do some test sampling of their new product or service before making large-scale commitments. For manufacturers, anything involving plastics could involve considerable expense in tooling, so market testing by means of mock-ups, visuals or models would be sensible. But you must be realistic. Having been involved with inventors for more years than I care to remember, I have lost track of the times I have had to inject some realism into new offerings. Belief that you will succeed is one thing: blindness to obvious faults and over-estimating demand could be fatal.

A pre-production run, produced if necessary by hand, or a small batch run, can be shown to potential wholesalers, agents and consumers. Most box makers will produce a sample range on condition they receive a proper order in due course. Dummy boxes can be coloured up. Surveys can be made, either by the time-honoured method of stopping people in the street or loaning for 'wear tests'. Be wary of small samples. Statistically, they are suspect. Try and get a genuine cross-section of your target audience or pick up every tenth person to work the law of averages. Questionnaires needs to be carefully framed. Award points that can be taken off the forms and totalled.

If your product is a knock-down kit, give it to the 'village idiot' and see how well he assembles it from your printed instructions. You're too close to the job to see the pitfalls.
Post the item back to yourself and see what the carrier does to it.
Try a variety of packaging.
Try a number of product names and see which is the most acceptable.

Almost everything about the product can be tested before it is launched on the market. eBay is good for testing the market as the spec and offer can be varied immediately, once you have a loyal customer base. Response to different formulae can be measured swiftly. Items that change frequently can be listed on a website order form (eg organic food suppliers) and the likely take-up gauged at once.

The same applies to advertising. Try it in a small way first with one paper or journal before booking space in six and running a campaign. The major companies do it by ITV region - one step at a time. A big advantage of direct mail is the in-built ability to test different headlines, offers and names with a quick response before doing a major posting. It is far cheaper to change a pilot production than a full warehouse. Market research should be continuous. Never forget that customs and uses change, so keep in touch with your customer.

Spotting new markets

The internet has of course generated an explosion of new ventures and will change our shopping habits dramatically. Theoretically the world is your market, provided the goods or expertise can be shipped economically. More serious marketeers believe that the internet works best when combined with others forms of promotion - you still have to promote the site, so it should not be used in isolation. Part of the continuous research must be to look out for new markets as they appear. Don't rely on all your customers staying with you for ever. It is generally recognised that we have increasingly become a divided society with the rich richer and a growing underclass: those with little or no pension provision.

From a marketing, not social, point of view suppliers have to chase and adapt to meet different needs. In some parts of the country crime has rocketed, which is bad for the robbed, but does offer selling opportunities to the security industry, ranging from locks to rape alarms. Increasing worries about food purity and allergies have given a boost to small specialist food producers that runs from the growers to restaurants, while increasing disenchantment with conventional medicine has likewise been beneficial to alternative practitioners, herbalists, vitamin suppliers and therapists of every description.

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