subject: Do You Know Your Niche Market by Randall Collier [print this page] Do You Know Your Niche Market by Randall Collier
When selling a product, a lot of people make the wrong move of formulating their product first, and then trying to look for a market for it. The process should really be reversed. Find a market first that spends real money, then find out what they want and give it to them.
It is certainly easier said than done, but there are a lot of sites online where you can do your market research for free. They've done the majority of the work for you already. You simply just need to know where to go and what to do to connect all the dots.
When you think youve detected such a niche market, ask yourself these really important questions:
1) Do you have an absolute interest or passion for the niche? If not, do you think you can develop one or will you get unhappy with it quickly?
2) Are other people enthusiastic about your niche? If not, do they have a serious problem they want to resolve?
3) Is the market big enough, but not so big youll have too much competitors when youre just starting out?
4)Do the people in this niche spend money?
5) What products are successfully bought right now in this niche? Can you sell something equal? Can you strengthen it, give them something they would like to buy that all other products of their kind are currently lacking?
6) What are these existing products in your intended niche being sold for? Could you be prosperous selling a similarly priced item? Or are your potential competitors selling low on the front so they can upsell, cross sell, or make their money on the back-end?
What Are the Differences Between Upsell, Cross Sell, and a Back-End Sale?
Upsell: After they make their purchase (but before they pay), you attempt to upgrade them to a premium version of the offer for more money. (e.g. A fast food restaurant might ask them whether theyd like to supersize their order.
Cross sell: After they make their purchase (but before they pay), you attempt to sell them complementary products. (e.g. a Fast food restaurant might ask do you want fries with that when only a sandwich is ordered)
Back-end sales: After they have purchased your product (and paid for it), you follow-up with them at a later date and attempt to sell them a more expensive product that they may be interested in, usually, but not always, complementary to the original product they purchased (e.g. Someone purchases the soundtrack to the Sopranos from Amazon.
