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. For more information...
mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com. Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)
Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133