Having a brilliant idea at the start of your business is one
thing. Finding a way to shift your idea toward what your customers
ask for—that's another kind of brilliance. It's what
Joey Roer-Chancis did with her company, Joey New
York.
Roer-Chancis launched her line of skin-care products in 1993 and
had a strong niche at stores like cosmetics retailer Sephora by
1996. But customers kept clamoring for a whole cosmetics color
line, so she considered the possibility. "We developed a cult
following through our [skin-care] treatments," says
Roer-Chancis, 36. "So [by] listening to what [customers were]
looking for, [the color line] became of interest to us."
Even after hearing how much her customers and retailers wanted a
Joey New York color line during the first three years of business,
Roer-Chancis and her team took two more years to introduce those
new products from their Aventura, Florida, locale. Making sure her
color products would complement her brand and still be different
from other products on the market required a lot of R&D. So, in
1998, when she launched the color line, she made sure it also had
the "good for your skin" element of her original
line.
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That's the right way to modify your focus, says Vickie
Sullivan, a business-growth expert for professional service firms
and founder of Sullivan Speaker Services, a market strategy firm in
Tempe, Arizona. "Look at your brand," she says. "You
don't want services or products that don't fit the overall
brand."
Spend time researching the impact a new product or service
direction will have on your original business, says Sullivan. Ask
yourself: Will it be additional profit, or will it take away from
your core business? Will it grow and strengthen your overall brand?
"[See] if it's going to cannibalize or take away from your
current offering," she says.
When you decide that a new direction is good for your business,
use those customers who clamored for the new product or service in
the first place as a small test market. Do this before you fully
launch, and get extensive feedback. The key to making a successful
business shift? "Be open to the market. If you're starting
up, the market is going to tell you what they want," says
Sullivan. Don't be so in love with your original idea, she
adds, that you can't see the opportunities that change can
bring.
For Joey New York, that willingness to change brought yearly
sales well into the seven figures. Talk about adding a little color
to the business.
Listen and Learn?
Though listening to customers is important in any
business, it's not necessary to shift in response to their
every whim, says Vickie Sullivan, a business-growth expert in
Tempe, Arizona. "The customers are not looking at it from your
perspective, [as in] is it profitable for you to give them
that?" she says. "They're just asking for what they
want, so it's up to you to make sure there is a profit margin
on the horizon."
Thank them for their comments, says Sullivan, and reiterate how
much you appreciate their feedback. Say something like "Thank
you for your suggestion; you've given me a lot to think
about." Then, go about the "Is this good for my
business?" analysis privately.