When most people get into their business they start immediately implementing their idea. Then after a few failures and missed steps, they either give up or are forced to re-think their idea. There is a better way, start with the customer first.

Start With The Customer First

The key is to slow down before you speed up. Take the time to get a better understanding of your customer's needs, wants emotions and perceptions. This will save you more time, money and effort than you think. Answer this question:

What are people really buying from you?

Most people answer with the most obvious answer, "They are buying a web site, bookkeeping or a piece of equipment."

They Buy What They Want -- Get What They Need

When people buy, they get a widget. Yes, but what they want is much more. When they make a major purchase they are buying the widget AND the meaning attached to the emotions that they associate with your product or service. For example:

What They Need	What They Want
Web Site	Make Ecommerce transactions, develop a positive image of their business, acquire new customers.
Bookkeeping	Pay less taxes, accurate and timely service, time to work on other areas of the business.
Equipment	Make a profit -- they are buying what they think the equipment will do for them. Increased efficiency, more profits, faster turn around.

To Find Out What they Want - Ask Questions!

As a business owner and marketer your role is to translate or connect the dots, so to speak, between your customer's emotions and the specific product/service characteristics. Another way to think of this is:

• What is the intrinsic, innate or inborn motivation that is driving your customer to buy your product or service? In order to buy, what would they need to learn?
• When the customer thinks of buying your product/service, what thoughts come to mind?
• What goal do they want to achieve? What do they want to experience more of or less of as a result of buying your product or service?

Take the time to speak to potential customers to get answers to the above questions. Then use this information to analyze the validity of your business idea.

Doing Research And Testing Your Ideas Takes Time -- It Is Really Worth It!

If you have an answer to any one of these questions it would make all your research worthwhile. If you listen carefully you can expect that:

• answers will confirm your assumptions.
• you will find out something new that you had not considered before.
• customers will advise you of mistakes, errors or things they dislike.

Learn, Shift And Adjust

Then, use this information to modify or re-engineer your approach to starting your business. If you are diligent and willing to learn, your customers will teach you what they want! Changing your approach and implementing changes can dramatically increase your odds of success.