To know what your market wants, you need to conduct a market survey. However, before you start, prepare a list of questions to ask your target market customers. Here are some examples to get you thinking:

• Will they buy your products? If so, how much will they pay?
• How would they improve the product?
• What are the problems that you face and want them solved immediately?

An experienced inventor once told me he would sit outside his grocery store and ask passers-by the above questions.

Another inventor told me he would approach people in the area of the store where his product would be found, and survey people. Here was his trick; he would tell them he was doing a survey for his friend’s invention so the person being surveyed was more likely to tell the truth (rather than avoid hurting the inventor’s feelings).

Try some of these techniques and develop your own process. The most important thing is that you have a process for surveying customers.

- Bryan Daigle
President & Founder of ideatango.com – the #1 site for inventors & invention ideas For more good info & advice, check out the official IdeaTango Blog