Developing your Business Ideas

Your potential customers or clients are always looking for "value added" in the products and services they purchase. Once you've started developing business ideas, look at each opportunity from different angles, always looking for ways of adding value that will set your product or service apart from that of your competitors.

Example:

Greta Green believes that opening a landscaping business to service upper-middle class homes in a new housing development is a good business opportunity. But she is not alone in this assessment and will face stiff competition in this new market.

How could she improve her chances of success by providing landscaping services that are more convenient and flexible, less expensive, or more accessible to customers?

What other products or services could she offer to complement her landscaping service? Could she, for instance, combine her landscaping services with general repairs, housekeeping, or babysitting services?

As an added service to her customers, could she sell gardening tools or sell and install lawn sprinkler systems? Could she find and sell products that have added features or accessories and are:

• cleaner, safer or easier to use
• more durable and easier to replace or repair
• more efficient and functional
• lighter or stronger
• less costly
• more easily stored?

Every business idea will come with its own set of questions and opportunities to add value and make your product or service more attractive to customers.