One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is creating what they think their market needs instead of what it wants. Then they’re left disappointed, discouraged and with little to no sales – and maybe even unwilling to try again.

So if you’re creating products/programs/services that you think your market needs – offerings that seem the most logical to you that will help your prospects do, be or have better – but you’re not selling many – or any, then keep reading.

There are two things you need to remember when creating any offering for your market:

1. People buy what they want, not necessarily what they need.

2. People buy based on emotion, not necessarily on logic.

There are several ways to get this information and use it to help you create an offering that will solve your prospect’s problems and make a profit for you at the same time.

The best way is to do your research. Make sure you conduct market research of your market at least once a year. You want this to be an ongoing part of your marketing campaign so you can keep up with the changing desires of your target market and continue to offer them what they want (not what you think they need).

Here are some ways to do this:

1. Simple: Ask them!

Ask your prospects a simple, open-ended question, like “What’s your biggest challenge with building your business online?” or “What’s the one thing you’d like to learn more about that relates to balancing your work and family life?” Tailor the question to your niche and use the information you receive to help spark ideas for new products and services.

You can put this question to your target market a number of ways: as an autoresponder when they sign up for your freebie offering, periodically in your ezine, ask them on your teleclass and have them email you their response, or ask them on discussion boards and blogs in your niche.

2. Almost as Simple: Do a simple survey…

… that asks 1-10 questions using a survey tool like SurveyMonkey. This allows you to ask more specific questions to elicit more specific responses. Doing a survey like this really helps you to NOT waste your time creating offerings your target market simply doesn’t want.

Continue reading this and share you thoughts on my blog…

3. Advanced: Set up an Ask Database campaign (www.AskDatabase.com).

This tool helps you ask your niche what they want in a sophisticated and professional-looking way. It does a few other things besides just asking the questions, so if you have the budget, it might be worth looking into.

One last tip: To entice people to share their thoughts with you, offer them a free gift for answering your question or taking your survey. It’s also a nice way to say thank you for their time and for the very valuable information they’re sharing with you.

The information you glean from implementing this strategy (especially over time as your list grows) is priceless! Try it for yourself and see if you don’t agree… 🙂

30 Days to an Income-Generating Info-Product

It’s absolutely possible to create a new income stream by putting together a simple product in as little as a month. I’ll teach you not only how to do it, easily and inexpensively, but also how to choose a topic that’s guaranteed to lead to a lucrative product for you.

As a bonus, I’ll also share with you the exact steps I used to create a simple multi-media product that continues to generate consistent sales with very little promotion that you can do too!

Only *2* seats left – reserve yours

I’d love to hear which of these tips you’re willing to embrace today. Feel free to share with me below.