What's Next?

What I was thinking for my business before my interviews was to add a few more products. I mention these in my Venture Concept, but just in case, I'd like to make a self-cleaning mop as well as a baseboard cleaner (the strip of wood or plastic where the wall meets the floor) because most of the time they are an awkward shape and low to the ground which makes it difficult to clean. I interviewed three mothers and they all were very supportive of these. Some disagreement came when I suggested my next idea: a "cleaning party" where we'd come and clean a few rooms of a mother's house while getting the chance to advertise our product. One woman said I needed to have a short speech afterwards to prove my products' superiority over the mainstream cleaning tools and products out there as well as change my approach because some women will feel the need to clean before someone else cleans. A party might not be the best method to solve this problem.

In addition, all three of them really wanted to see naturally-sourced cleaning products. The reasons for this ranged from wanting something fragrance free to the use of essential oils to being kind to the environment. Nevertheless, this is definitely something I'd like to see come out of my business. This is a doable goal along with producing two more of my cleaning tools out of a sustainable material like wood or if it was reasonable, glass.

For this portion, I interviewed two college-aged men, ages 19 and 27. The older one expressed no interest in this whatsoever when I described my dustpan. When I asked why, he said that he's not that meticulous when he cleans. If he were to buy this, he wanted to see a significant decrease in time spent cleaning. I'd never thought of that before and it's a good reminder to find out how much time this would actually save. My second interview was surprisingly interested in this, even when I said it was marketed towards moms. I told him about my previous interview and he confirmed my beliefs: my product is better suited towards "neat-freaks" or "germaphobes", which will be vital to know when I start advertising this particular line of product.

This process confirmed my suspicions that mothers with multiple children was the right market to target although my business has the potential to appeal to others not within my focus group. I suspected as much, although I was thrown for a loop by the enthusiasm shown for this by a young, single man. In summary, this came out mostly how I expected, but has shown me that I don't have to specifically sell to people who fit my market. In addition, I got a plethora of great idea of how to expand my revenue drivers and cater to my focus group of customers.