Who are the people most likely to want or need your product?

It's easy to say "everybody," but that begs the question. Remember, the objective here is to narrow your focus. Does this mean you want to exclude those who don't fit your target profile? Of course not. But until you establish whom you're targeting, you can't begin to effectively tailor your message to appeal to those who are most likely to respond.

Here's the unvarnished truth about product — any product: Be it a potion, pill or politician, you can't please everyone. Think about your product. Who needs it? Who wants it? Who would be willing to part with their hard-earned money to buy it? Identify different categories of people who would find your product useful, beneficial or desirable.

Now start asking more and more detailed questions about them. How old are they? Are they predominately of one gender or ethnic origin? What is their economic status? Are they likely to be influenced by a particular cultural or religious bias'? What is their family status? What is their typical level of education? What is their occupation'? Where do they live? Do they own or rent? What are their hobbies and interests? How do they spend their time? I How much are they willing and able to spend each month in order to satisfy the need your product or service will address?

It may seem at first as if this is a futile exercise. After all, network marketing is a great, level playing field where word of mouth reins supreme, right? How could you possibly know whose ears will be listening to whose mouths? But if you stop to think about it, don't most people tend to associate with other people like themselves? So wouldn't it make sense that your message might become concentrated in one or more groups of people?

In fact, this does happen with some frequency, and may happen in your organization. Someone will catch the bug and start telling everyone they know all about your wonderful product and opportunity. Because they are telling all the people they know, many of whom fall into one particular category, and those people are following the example of the first person and telling everyone they know, also probably in the same group, a concentration forms.

So if it's likely to happen anyway, how can you anticipate the direction it might go? One way is through a process of elimination. You can certainly establish who is not likely to respond to your message. Once you have identified the characteristics of that group, look at the opposite end of the spectrum. For instance, if your product is a nutritional that promises to restore lost youth, you can probably assume that teenagers are not prime candidates. By the same token, if you've developed a new formula that enhances extreme sports performance, the geriatric crowd may not be the best place to spend your marketing dollars.

Once you have a general idea of who your target customers are, you can begin using that information by asking what someone in that category might need or want. This is the "why" question. In the example of the sports performance product above, convenience might be a critical factor. A foil-wrapped snack bar would probably be much easier to use than a powder that requires measuring and mixing with water or juice. And since young people are less tolerant of medicinal tastes, it should probably be designed to have an appealing flavor.

Do you see how knowing who your prospective customer is, and why he or she will want your product, can help you make some of the critical decisions you have to make in order to get your product into the marketplace? Trust me — as you go forward with issues of design, formulation, engineering, sourcing, positioning, pricing, packaging, presentation and promotion, you will continually come back to these anchor points: Who is my customer and how will my product meet the needs of that customer? Finding the right answers to these questions will take you a long way down the road toward creating a successful network marketing enterprise.

Know your market. Know your customers. Know what they want. Only then can you define your product with confidence that it will sell.