BD2 Define the product or service of your business

Summary

Why this is important

You need to properly define a product or service before you offer it so that you:

  • offer the right product or service for the market;
  • charge the right price for it; and
  • sell enough to achieve what you want to achieve.

Who might do this

You might do this if you are:

  • setting up a new business or social enterprise;
  • expanding a business or social enterprise; or
  • changing or adapting the products or services offered by your business or social enterprise.

What it involves

Defining a product or service involves:

  • defining your product or service in detail and how it is different to other similar products or services;
  • deciding how much to charge for your product or service;
  • setting targets of how many or how much you will sell or distribute.

Other units that link closely with this

WB1 Check what customers need from your business
WB3 Plan how you will sell your products or services
BD1 Check the likely success of a business idea

What you need to do

  1. Decide on the detail of your business product or service and how it could be provided.
  2. Find out who your competitors are and how their product or service differs from yours.
  3. Work out who your customers will be.
  4. Work out the likely demand for your product or service.
  5. Decide how many you expect to sell or distribute.
  6. Research all the costs of providing your product or service.
  7. Decide what price to charge for your product or service.
  8. Work out how much profit you may make from your product or service.
  9. Work out and decide when and how you could sell or distribute the product or service.
  10. Make sure you can achieve what you want to achieve from your product or service.

What you need to know and understand

Products or services

  1. How to describe a product or service.
  2. How to find out about the market and its prices in a sector.
  3. How to work out the cost of providing products or services.
  4. Different ways to price a product or service and their benefits.
  5. How costs affect a product or service
  6. How price affects sales.

Competitors

  1. Where to find out about your competitors products or services.
  2. How competitors’ products or services may differ (for example price, quality, delivery times, payment terms, level of service).
  3. How to analyse the market and competition.

Market research

  1. How to find out who your customers might be.
  2. How you can find out what customers want.

Selling

  1. Where and when a product or service can be sold.
  2. How to set realistic sales targets.

Business focus

  1. What you want to achieve from your product or service.