If you examine carefully many successful SMEs that have finally made it big or successful, there is often a winning product or service that defines the company. The product or service is special. It creates a special experience for the customers or fills a need that is not satisfactorily met. There will be many products and services in the market segment you want to occupy but very few outstanding ones are winners. It brings in massive income for the company, and with the cash generated, the company is able to expand and build further successes, hopefully.
I have covered earlier that the 3 major components that build a successful company are: Product, Sale/Marketing and Operation/Production. So, I shall cover product in this article.
Recently, I was talking to an aspiring entrepreneur, and one of the things I was looking out for was if he or she has a product/service winner. I detected some start-up enthusiasm, willingness to work hard, and some good ideas. But good ideas alone cannot bring in the cash – it has to be translated into something tangible that can generate positive income streams. Since I play and watch ball games often, my analogy is that a beautiful shot is only counted if the ball lands inside the court or into the net of your opponent – no point is scored if it is out! Try to translate a beautiful idea (a beautiful shot) into a product or service that can become a winner (a goal or point) – even your competitors will talk about!
To convince you, I will offer a few of the many examples I have (I really have a long list and I am sure you can add on to it as well!):