How to use a "hot market" to build your business

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.

About the Author

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...
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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