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How
to Use A “Hot Market” To Build Your Business
By Bob Leduc
Do you remember all the anxiety about Y2K in 1999? It created a
"hot market". A lot of businesses jumped into that hot
market. Many of them failed when the Y2K problem evaporated. But
a few used the unique opportunity it provided to build
permanent, profitable businesses.
How to Identify A New Hot Market
A hot market usually involves something new or previously
unknown. It offers a big benefit or solves a big problem for a
lot of people.
Pay attention to what you hear from other business owners, what
you read in trade publications or what you find on the Internet.
When you uncover a new product or service ask yourself,
"What are the characteristics of the customers who use
this? Are there lots of them and are they easy to find?" If
your answer is "yes", you may have discovered a new
hot market.
When you think you've found a hot market, look for ways you can
profit from it. For example, you may be able to become a
distributor for the product or service you found ...or you can
develop your own products or services to serve the same market.
Get In At The Beginning
A hot market can produce a surge of business for a short
period of time, especially if you get in at the beginning.
That's when sales are easy to get because the market is growing
and there isn't much competition. Later, it becomes more
difficult and expensive to get sales as more competitors flood
into the market. Hot markets become highly competitive.
Most hot markets won't vanish like the Y2K market. A hot market
may be a permanent market but the extraordinary profit potential
it offers is temporary. It's difficult to build a permanent
business based exclusively on a hot market. But you can use it
as a temporary opportunity to launch a new business or to increase the profits of your
existing business.
Opportunity To Launch A New Business
You can launch a new business based on a hot market and use
the profits from it to finance your entry into other markets.
When the profit potential of the hot market starts to fade it
will only be a portion of your total income.
For example, I recently read about a new company launched in
1998. The business started by selling a software product the
owners developed to find and correct Y2K problems. Sales were
brisk and they used the profits to develop other new software
products NOT related to Y2K. By the time the Y2K market vanished
they were getting most of their sales from other products.
A New Profit Center For An Existing Business
You can also diversify an existing business into a hot
market to take advantage of its profit potential. When the
profit potential declines you can decide whether to abandon the
market or continue to operate it as a "normal" profit
center.
I know several marketers on the Internet who regularly do this
with new affiliate programs. They get in early and vigorously
promote the program to quickly sign up a lot of new affiliates.
They stop the special promotions when competition gets heavy but
continue to offer the program as one of the many services they
provide.
Try to spot emerging hot markets. They offer a profitable
business opportunity with minimum risk -- especially if you can
get in early. When you find one, use it to launch a new business
or add it as a new profit center to your existing business.
Copyright 2000 By Bob Leduc
Bob
Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales
personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales
Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With
Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information...
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com
Subject:
"Postcards".
Phone:
(702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)
Or write:
Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
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