One of the least-appreciated changes wrought by the Internet is the ability to "test the waters" before committing to a business idea.
If your dream is to quit your day job and make a go of your woodworking, you can find out if there is a market for your product before spending a lot of money. And before quitting your paying job.
For illustration, I'll assume you have an idea for a product that you want to sell through the Internet, and you want to see if there is a market for it. There are a couple of low-cost steps you can take right now.
1. Online Auctions.
Sites like E-bay, Yahoo Auctions and Amazon.com Auctions offer you an invaluable resource. Sure, they're a good sales channel for a business. But, even better, they are a kind of no-cost market research tool.
By listing your product for auction, you can get immediate feedback about how much people might be willing to pay. And, you get a sense of how many people are interested.
Best of all, since the listing costs are so low, this is essentially a no-cost, no-risk way to learn about your potential market.
A great resource for getting started with online auctions is an e-book called "Make Your Net Auction Sell".
This book shows you how to write the auction listing for best results, how to interact with your buyers, and lists some common pitfalls and innocent mistakes to avoid.
2. Low-Cost Website.
For $20 per month, you can establish a professional looking website, one that even comes with site design tools. Why not set up a virtual store for your woodworking, and see what happens.
When you stop and think about this, it's amazing what a change this is from a few years ago. Before, you had to spend a great deal of money, and put in a lot of time and effort, to get a store set up. Now, you can do it in a weekend. And without quitting your real job.
Plus, if it doesn't work out, you can easily change the product focus and try something different. Or, as a last resort, close the store and go back to your day job!
For $20, I can't think of a reason NOT to try your own website and experiment a little. The "secret" is to get started.
For newcomers to web hosting, I strongly recommend WebWizards, the firm that has been hosting CutListPlus.com for some time now. It's a small business, not a division of a huge corporation, so you always get the personal attention and help that you provide in your own small business.
The Extraordinary Power of Delighted Customers
Part 2: Say "Thank You"
Previously in this series we saw that your current customers are your best source for new orders and new customers. It's obvious, but we tend to ignore the extraordinary power of delighted customers.
I mentioned 10 "not-so-secret" ways to foster these relationships:
- Listen, then give them what they want
- Deliver what you promise, when you promise
- Stay focused
- Follow-up after the sale
- Say "Thank You"
- Make referrals easy
- Keep your customers informed
- Solicit feedback
- Correct mistakes aggressively
- Say "Thank You" again
Let's look at one of these points in more detail...
Your mom was right when she taught you to say "thanks". But, it's more than just polite; it's good business, too.
To get repeat business and referrals from your customers, they have to remember who you are, what you do, and feel good about you. A timely "thank you" fills the bill nicely.
The more expensive and less frequently-purchased your product, the more important this becomes. For these situations, your "thanks" should be in the form of a small gift.
Here's a suggestion: I've found a small company that allows you to upload graphics that they will print on coffee mugs, hats, clothing, etc. Their main market is businesses that want to sell these items.
But, you can have them print merchandise with your business logo, and purchase it yourself (at a discount) to give to your customers. Even better, you can print pictures of work you have done, along with your phone number or website URL.
To see what I mean, take a look at the examples I created using my own logo.
The great thing about this service is there is no minimum order quantity, and their prices are much lower than the more traditional alternative of purchasing specialty logo merchandise.
Here's one more idea about saying thanks. There is some natural resistance to spending money to buy a gift for a customer. So, try building that expense into the cost estimate of the project from the very beginning! Treat the "thank you" as an intrinsic job cost, just like the lumber.
