There are many reasons why products fail and even the largest manufacturing companies cannot escape from those mistakes. Watching out some basic pitfalls below can save your company or your business on very low sales or even on the brink of bankruptcy.
1. Setting Aside Quality - since business today are very competitive than an few years back, many companies are skimping on quality in order to be competitive. News about bad quality of a product can spread like a wild fire in the internet and word of mouth as quickly compared when internet was not yet available. Before you know it, even your most loyal client can drop you without notice if the quality of your product does not satisfy their standards.
2. Making Copycat Products – if your product does not have a clear and defined niche market, you are competing against thousands or millions of clones with a very minimal chance of success. Monopolizing on a certain specialized niche will give you a better chance of success. If you want a broader niche market, your product got to have a competitive features not found on your competitors. Innovation is the key on the rapidly changing market fad.
3. Pricing Your Product Too High or Too Low - Pricing and marketing is like a see-saw. The higher your price is, the less people can afford and vice-versa. If you think your product carries a premium quality and brand, you have to evaluate it first before launching your product because later on if you decide to change the price and lower it, your image will also suffer and might loose customers.
4. Forgetting to Promote it Efficiently – this is basic stuff but some companies are still not convinced on the power of media or successful advertising. There is a local donuts business I know that offers franchising but they are not very well known compared to the popular brands like Dunkin or Mister Donuts but still many are interested to franchise on their product. The reason why I know it is because I have a post about them and many are asking about their contact info. There are many ways to promote your product specially now that advertising is cheaper online than in print media. You can also do it for free by placing ads on classified ads websites, forums, social networking sites and even making a free blog or website like blogger.com or multiply.com. Even on a free or low budget planned campaign, you can get the desired result is properly implemented.
5. Ignoring the Importance of Guarantees and Support – warranties and service after the product is bought does not only gives the customer the feeling of importance but can also be used as source of feedback to improve our products or services. Most customers today are well informed and know their rights so they expect a quality back-up service. Successful companies today get their huge profits from repeat customers which is acquired through good after sales support.
Posted by Manuel
Manuel Montala was an online entrepreneur who enjoys blogging about entrepreneurship and gathering information for his blog to help budding entrepreneurs. You can also reach him on twitter: http://twitter.com/mmontala
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Pricing is important. Do not sacrifice lowering down the price, if your product is of real value. Put a price tag it deserves. If your product is really that valuable, people will set aside a budget for them to buy it.
We are starting business such as liniment and ointment for psoriasis and other skin diseases, however we are worried to have it registered in BFAD due to high cost and feasibility of requirements they may possibly require. Do you have idea of the cost for BFAd registration?Thanks and more power!!!
@Idyl
Honestly I don’t have an idea how much it will cost to register your product in BFAD but I think it will not cost you that much. In my opinion it is better to register it to avoid problems later. Besides, if your product is BFAD registered, consumers will have more confidence in buying them.
Thanks for the great advice,I’m sure you have helped a lot of people through your useful and informative blogs… keep up the good work sir!
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