Picking a new product isn’t easy. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things I do. The products I use and sell need to be exceptional, but meet multiple client needs and be within a budget that my clients can afford. So how does it all happen?
Well it starts with me selecting a few products that seem interesting. I learn as much as I can about the products online and from other people in my field. Armed with that knowledge I attend any classes those products offer. If I like what I hear I go to the booth and ask questions – lots of them. Essentially I need to know as much about this product as the chemist who created it and the person who first conceived it. If I can’t get these answers I strike the product off my list. I don’t care how good a product is supposed to be. If the people peddling it can’t answer my questions or find someone who can, then it’s useless to me. I am only as good as the products I use. They are the number one tool I have. I can know what’s wrong with you and how to fix it, but if my products are mediocre then I can only get you mediocre results. And any product line that can’t answer a few important questions is merely mediocre.
Sometimes I can’t get a good sense of a product after just one show or convention. In this case I ask the company for as much literature as they will send me and then I hang out at their booth the next show or convention I am at. I listen to what current clients have to say, and what new clients are asking. I become a groupie and just take it all in. If I had more time I’d do this with every line, but this process is very time consuming – yet always rewarding.
This process usually narrows the number of products a great deal. Out of the 5 or 6 I was interested in only 1 might make the cut. Any products that make the cut I spend about a month playing with. Once I deem the product safe and understand it enough to feel comfortable with it, it goes into a “Pilot Program” where I select specific clients to try it out.
After I get their feedback I keep it and get all the training I can on it, or I dump it and put all data on it into a file. This file is important. I will revisit it when a product line changes, there is a product line spin off, or I continue to hear good buzz about a product I axed. I haven’t yet taken in a product that was axed, but the data is always a great reminder to me of why the it didn’t make the final cut. The notes I gather also help with future research by narrowing down research on new product lines that hit the market.
So there it is. Not very exciting I know, but so many people asked how I pick my products after I attended my last Vegas Convention that I figured I might as well answer you all here. 🙂