Top 7 Right Things You Must Know and Do To Develop a Product or Service

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One of the main challenges entrepreneurs face when starting a business is developing and formulating their products or services. To succeed, every product or service has to add value and meet the needs of consumers, typically by solving a problem. So where do we start??

Here are seven steps that you absolutely must take when developing a product or service.?

1.?Do Your Market Research?

The development of a good product or service begins with market research to help you identify what consumers' pain points, how other companies are addressing those pain points, what solutions you could offer your target customers, and how your solutions would be different and better than the competition's.?

Makes sense, right? Yet, many entrepreneurs focus more on the idea rather than the problem.?

●??????35% of startups fail because there is no market need for them.?

You can't develop successful products or services if you don't fully understand what your potential customers want and need and if you don't know what your would-be competitors are offering.?

So you need to hit the streets and gather this information. Gather market studies, trend analyses and industry statistics. Talk to people informally but also conduct formal surveys and focus groups to obtain feedback from your target customers.?

After researching the market, you can create a value proposition. Your value proposition should point out how your product or service addresses customers' pain points and how it does it better than anyone else.. Remember that your competitors' weaknesses are your competitive advantage.

What is a value proposition??

A value proposition is a statement that describes the unique benefit or advantage that a product, service or brand offers to its target customers. It conveys the reason why a customer should choose a particular product or service over the product or services offered by competitors. In other words, a value proposition is your brand's promise to your customers.?

Example of a value proposition:?

Gravital Agency creates and executes powerful, performance-driven marketing campaigns to generate high-quality and sales-qualified leads for B2B companies struggling with lackluster sales. Our digital marketing, sales enablement and growth strategy solutions set us apart by delivering exceptional results and sustained business growth. ??

Market research gives you the information you need to create a product or service that is relevant, attractive and competitive. Always keep in mind that you're developing a product or service for other people, not for yourself. What sounds good and looks good to you will mean nothing if it doesn't solve a problem that your target customers' want or need solved. ?

2. Define Your Product's Specifications?

Based on the findings of your market research, you can now polish your product or service by defining the specifications it must have to fulfill its value proposition.

This is a very detailed process that hinges on the quality of your market research and the precision of the questions you asked potential customers. Using the data you've gathered, you can then formulate your product/service by defining its features, functionalities, technical requirements, budget and an estimate on development time.?

Don't make the mistake of launching a product or service without going through this process. If your product or service doesn't truly address your target customers' pain points, if it doesn't solve the problem your product claims to solve, it won't succeed.?

3. Conceptualize and Design Your Product?

At this stage some entrepreneurs start to, well, freak out. They've come up with a great idea, they've done the market research, created a banging value proposition, and so forth. But they don't have the money or time or both to manufacture a product, rent a retail space, etc., and they get overwhelmed. ?

Relax. You don't have to do it all at once.?

The conceptualization and design process allows you to sell your product concept before actually producing it, saving time, money and advancing its validation. This process typically involves creating a prototype of the product or service, something you can show your target customers. For example, it can be a 3D rendering or model or a PowerPoint presentation. But if all you can do is draw on a napkin, go for it.?

4. Get Concept and Prototype Approval?

Use the prototype to show the features and functionalities of your product or service to potential customers and obtain feedback from them. This feedback will help you validate that you're on the right track and help you improve your product/service.?

But be careful. When testing products or services, entrepreneurs often seek the opinion of relatives and friends. And, of course, your mom, dad, uncle, spouse, neighbor and best friends can't be objective about your idea. Chances are they'll be very impressed:?

"OMG, that's the greatest idea ever!"

"It's so clever. How did you come up with that?"

"Wow, I had no idea you were so talented."

"That product is super cute. Very cool. Love it."

"Everyone is going to want it."

"You're going to be rich!"?

You get the picture.?

In contrast, when you present a product or service that truly offers what consumers want or need, the response is more along these lines:?

"That's exactly what I need. When can I get it?"

"Are you taking orders?"

"What method of payment do you accept?"?

Praise may be music to your ears, but that isn't real feedback. Real, useful, helpful, valuable feedback includes negative opinions or objections to the product/service you're proposing. It's free advice. So go out there and get it. Your mom will still love you.?

5. Develop Your Product or Service?

Now you can develop your product or service. This step may include engineering design, software, manufacturing and quality testing, among other elements.?

This is the most exciting phase of product development, when you brainstorm and refine your ideas in order to bring forth the best possible product or service for your market. During this phase, it's important to be open to ideas and consider every possibility.?

After you brainstorm you need to prioritize features and functionalities because, after all, no product or service can't have it and do it all. Try focusing on the critical features you need to launch a functional product. These are the features without which your product/service couldn't exist. Put the others on the back burner. All products/services evolve with time, and you can add those features later on.?

Attention. This is extremely important: Stay away from perfection. Many entrepreneurs get stuck in trying to create a perfect product or service. And that's where their journey can end, because perfect is the enemy of good.?

Word is that if on the day you launch your product you're not a little embarrassed by it, then you're late in launching your product. That means that it's better to launch sooner than to seek perfection. Perfection does not help you–ever–to launch a viable product or service.?

6. Launch and Market Your Product or Service?

Once you've gone through the steps above and you have started to make some informal sales, then it's time to invest in marketing and a formal launching. This process usually includes launch events, advertising, digital marketing and public relations.?

One way to gain momentum during this phase is to use limited-time special offers. Through these offers, customers can buy the product or service, try it and rate it. And this is exactly what you want at this stage: to get your product/service in as many hands as possible and receive the first wave of massive feedback that you can use to further develop it.?

Don't be skimpy. Set attractive special offers and discounts to lure in those first customers. For example, you can offer a $200 product at a 50% discount for six months, and then raise the price. The point is to reach and convert as many customers as possible from the start.?

7. Monitor Performance and Continuously Improve?

After launching and after analyzing all of the new feedback you received, it's time to monitor the performance of your product or service in the market and make continuous improvements based on sales results, customer feedback and competitive analysis.?

Remember the features and functionalities you left on the back burner? Now you can start revisiting them. Use them to modify and improve your product/service based on the feedback you have received, especially the negative feedback. It may be tough to hear, but nothing will help you improve your product/service more than critical feedback.?

Product and service development is a continuous process. It never ends, not if you want to be successful. Your product/service will most likely undergo multiple versions. And that's OK. That's continuous improvement.?

So keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be open to data, feedback and change. That's how you innovate, and that's how you stay relevant and competitive.?

Final Word?

There's the right way and the wrong way of doing things. These seven right ways of product development will get you on the right track to develop and launch a product or service that has the best chance at succeeding in your market.?

Follow these steps, and you will see results. Ignore them, and brace yourself for less desirable outcomes.