Generating A Great Product Idea

As the world gradually begins to recover from the effect of the global recession of the last couple of years, people have become as interested in how not to lose money to an investment as much as they want to make money from it. If that describe your person, then identifying a great product or business idea that would guarantee a return of investment (ROI) in the shortest time possible is a great skill you must be ready to learn.

You may not be able to guarantee the phenomenal success of any product but you can at least increase your chances by taking your time to follow a guaranteed process of product/business development.

Let’s take a look at some basic steps you need to follow to generate great ideas.

1. Understand the needs in your environment.

The worst mistake anyone can make is to ignore the prevalent needs in his environment before creating a product or service. A product becomes successful in the market place simply because it is useful and SATISFIES THE NEED OF THE TARGET CUSTOMER.

Therefore write a short list, not more than 20, of things that people use or need every day. This includes food, houses, cars, electricity, telephones and clothing. Our country is place where it seems nothing is working. This gives everyone an opportunity to tap into the unlimited opportunities available in all sectors of the economy.

2. Create a list of Creative Ideas.

Find a quiet place where you can have some privacy. Settle down and generate distinctly new and better ideas from your thoughts. Think about ways to make it easier or more convenient to use one or more of the things you wrote down in (1). List some ways to make those things cheaper, faster or smaller. Keep all your ideas no matter how silly they seem.

3. Analyse your ideas.

Look at some things on your list to see if combining them would make someone's life more convenient. Combining busyness and food gave us the fast food shops. Computers and money gave us ATM machines. Perhaps, some people would prefer to rent videos and games at a drive-through video store. For me I combined people’s love for motivational books and the need for success in exams to create a product that sold thousands of copies in secondary school nationwide in just a few months.

4. Analyse your skills.

Look at your own skills and past experiences. Write a list of things that you can do well. Write a list of things that you would like to learn to do. Make a list of chores or tasks that you hate and avoid. One of these may lead to a great business idea or opportunity. Include things you are highly passionate about.

5. Do a Product-Skills match.

Combine some items from your products and services lists with your skills and write down your new business ideas. Discover business trends and niches by looking at the titles of popular books and websites. Read magazine articles and blogs for inspiration for a business opportunity. Let your product ideas be niche-focused. Don’t try to solve everybody’s problem. Target a class of customers and try to solve their problems with your product.

6. Be Confident and Test your Ideas.

Don’t be afraid of coming up with something new. Every great invention began with maverick who took a bold and daring step. You don’t have to know everything about the idea. Just be passionate enough to make some people believe it. Work on it to see how useful and acceptable it is in the market place and from there you can be sure the sky would be too low to stop you.

7. Launch Out.

The most painful thing is for someone to launch out when the world has moved on. Therefore if your research and findings encourages you to launch out your product, do not hesitate. If you need funding, talk to potential investors. Just anyone can become an innovator or inventor, if he cares to follow the above process of developing great products.