How is gift-giving like doing market research? This isn’t a riddle! With gift-giving season rapidly approaching, let’s look at lessons we can apply from giving perfect gift to testing a new business idea or researching a niche.

Let’s say you’re considering taking leap from salary to solo, ready to test a business idea you’ve been nurturing for awhile. You’ve been advised repeatedly to do due diligence and subject your idea to strenuous market research before setting out. If you’re like many of us, you find assignment intimidating: too impersonal, too coldly analytical. This is where metaphor of gift-giving can help, suggesting a user-friendly approach to get you started. From there you can build on your momentum to go on to more cerebral aspects important in your decision, researching market trends and analyzing financial data.

First, a personal confession. I have a long-standing aversion to coffeetable books. It goes back to years of receiving them as gifts from my husband, in spite of subtle, and then not-so-subtle, expressions of disinterest. I finally brought a close to their annual appearances when I said to him, with something other than loving kindness in my voice, “Just because you like coffeetable books does not make them attractive gifts for me!”

What’s lesson here for market-testing a new business idea, or searching for a good niche? Think of your many skills, talents, and ideas as a reservoir of potential gifts, offerings you could contribute to world. And now think of person – “buyer” or prospective client – who would be receiving gift. Half of gift-giving is knowing what you want to give, and other half is assessing how gift will be received. Stand in shoes of receiver. Will gift provide value? Will it meet a need, solve a problem, enhance quality of life? And how durable will its value be? Will it end up in next year’s Goodwill box?

1. You could offer your potential customers a free sample of your product. If sample proves what you claim, there is a high chance they will buy it.

2. You could give your potential customers a free trial of your product or service. Tell them you won't bill them for 30 days.

3. You could offer your potential customers a rebate after they buy your product or service. They will feel they are getting a good deal.

4. You could offer your potential customers a monthly payment plan. Tell them they can pay for your product or service with three easy monthly payments.