How do you know if it’s time to pivot from the product you're offering? 🤔
An in-depth guide with questions to ask yourself to make the difficult decision
🎶 “Am I holding on too long, too long?
Am I holding on too strong? 🎶
From the song, “Set It Free”, by Suzan Alakas
✨ Here are some key questions you can ask yourself if you’re considering changing or pivoting from your current product or service (and why made our decision to sunset our EFGH Store). ✨
• Originally written: 23 July 2023
• Last updated: 11 September 2024
• Written by: Suzan Alakas
Suzan is Growtharmony’s Founder and Editor-In-Chief. She is passionate about spreading the amazing work and inspiring stories of heart-centered, women entrepreneurs with effective, kind communication. When Suzan’s not songwriting, finding leverage points or learning something new - you can find her in the garden, playing in the snow with her family, or in the kitchen cooking up a nourishing meal!
Our EFGH Story - Is it time to pivot? ⭐️
In 2020 we launched a new product close to our hearts — an organic bulk food delivery service! We named it the Eco Food Garden and Home Store. EFGH for short!
It was so aligned with our mission to support moms in nourishing their families, and to make our world a better place! 💕🌎
Buying in bulk was all about productivity too - saving time, money, and providing easy access to ingredients for special diets. Plus, it felt good knowing we were provide families with food backup for emergencies (for example during COVID, natural disasters, or even sick kiddos 🤒).
But the service didn't resonate with our audience as expected.
We were left wondering,
“Are we doing something wrong?”
"Do people not want the product?”
And ultimately, “Should we give up, or keep going with the EFGH Store?”
If you’ve every wondered if you should keep going with your product, or move on to something else, then here are some key questions you can ask yourself to make the decision that’s right for you and your business, 😊✨ and how we used these questions to make the decision to sunset our EFGH Store.
First, Gather Some Information (ie. METRICS)
One of the biggest business skills I’ve learn from all the online trainings, webinars and courses that I’ve taken over the years(!), is to be objective and look at your numbers to see how your business is really doing.
As an optimist, I focus on the good stuff 😊 and while that’s great for being solution-oriented, it often paints a better situation that it actually is - which can be detrimental for a business.
Looking at my numbers PLUS being optimistic about improving them, has allowed me to assess what is not working while staying in a positive mental state to make the changes needed to grow my business.
That being said, tracking my metrics was tedious and overwhelming at the beginning - and for a long time I was subconsciously blocking myself from actually doing it.
Which brings us to our first set of questions to explore…
1. Exploring Your MINDSET & Limiting Beliefs 🧠
Are you avoiding collecting the data to help you make unbiased decisions to grow your business?
Are you procrastinating in taking the crucial action steps to market, sell or deliver your product?
Are you 100% behind your product? Like, "I want to shout this from the rooftops" kind of love? 😍 Or, do you feel a twinge of the impostor syndrome creeping in, whispering that you're not good enough?
Does selling make you feel icky, pushy or uncomfortable?
Ooh, I’ve been there!
I wasn’t tracking my numbers, didn’t think I was good enough AND wasn’t selling to more than a handful of people.
Over time, I’ve been actively testing and using variety of mindset tools like the limiting belief ladder exercise, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT / tapping), Neurolinguitic Programming (NLP) and other modalities to overcome this self sabotage!
To address my “salespeople are pushy” mindset for the EFGH Store, I reframed it to “I am offering high quality products that I use and love, and I want to tell others about them because it can help them too!” After that, I was excited to offer these products! 💪
But even so, I wasn’t signing up new customers.
So let’s dive into the first set of business metrics to look at when your product isn’t selling…
2. Is it a MARKETING Issue?
First of all, does your audience know that your product is out there and available to them? If so, how many know about it?
How many people in the target audience are seeing your ads?
Are people engaging with your marketing efforts?
Are people aware of your product/service and not taking the next step to learn more?
For us, we tried many online and offline marketing campaigns. We ran several ads in our free online wellness magazine, asked existing clients to invite their friends, posted on social media, and had launch party with lots of yummy samples.
Despite advertising, referrals, a launch party, we saw very little interest - we got just a few clicks on our website over the years, and a small group of 5 ladies at the launch party. 😕 And none of these converted into sales! (ARGH!! Lol…!)
Which brings us to our next area to explore…
3. Is it an OFFER Issue?
Maybe your situation is different than ours - you might have plenty of interest 🤩 but prospects aren't taking the next step to sign up. This is when you can consider the effectiveness of your offer.
Is your offer unique, compelling, and fitting your clients' needs?
Have you considered presenting it in a different way - packaging, size, frequency, bundles, price, etc.?
Are you addressing your target customer’s fears by providing testimonials or case studies, allowing them to try out the product and/or offering a guarantee?
While we had low interest to begin with, we did try different product offers to see if that would help - including subscriptions, discounts, memberships, plus a risk-free money-back guarantee. Yet, our product still wasn't selling. 🤔
At this point, we began analyzing…
4. Market FIT
Initial market research is key to understanding, how much do your customers need your product offering?
Is your product fulfilling a need that isn’t being met?
Is there a demand for this product?
How would you customers feel if your product didn’t exist anymore?
Looking back, lack of initial market research was our big misstep. We jumped right in to creating this service after talking to a few interested mamas, so it was a good learning experience for future product launches to do more research ahead of time…!
We did start asking these questions after our product was already launched, and it was no surprise that the answers revealed key data that supported our struggles! ⭐️
Our product only catered to a specific and small niche of mom entrepreneurs living in Southern Finland who, despite struggling with their businesses, were willing to pay higher prices for organic products to invest in their family's health.
Plus, feedback from prospects showed us that many moms in our market did not have the space to store bulk products and weren’t using them enough to consume them before the expiration date.
And there were other factors to consider too…
5. EXTERNAL Factors
After looking internally at your mindset and business metrics, looking outward to the overall situation can help you to assess if it's in your best interest to continue with your current product or service.
Is there something external to your business that is affecting your mindset, marketing efforts, offer and/or market fit?
What other factors are influencing your product/service from growing, such as technology, suppliers, vendors etc.
How much of an investment/resources is it taking to keep trying to get this product off the ground?
In our case, I believe external factors deeply influenced our ability to deliver a high quality product that would help mothers save money, and still remain profitable for our business.
Our main vendor was out of stock on sooooo many of the items that my clients wanted to order.
Plus, over time, they were removing many staple bulk items from their inventory - which was the main selling point of our offer.
I felt that our customers weren’t able to get the products they wanted anymore, smaller orders meant less revenue for our company, and the effort put in wasn’t generating a high enough return on invest - especially as food is a commodity with a low profit margin.
So putting it all together…
Look Backward, then FORWARD ✨
At Growtharmony, we believe that self-awareness, and taking moments to reflect and review, are very valuable to self growth. Similarly they are valuable steps to the growth of your business! 🤩
By asking yourself the above questions and taking an objective look at the numbers, you can ultimately decide if the time, money, and effort you're putting into a struggling product is worth it.
If you’re ready to KEEP GOING - then keep on rocking it! ✨ Keep working on your mindset, keep experimenting, adjust as you go and get the support you need to get through tough times!
But if it’s just not working- it’s ok to pivot! 💕 It's okay to say, "My product just isn't selling and I’m going to try something else."
Though it can be emotional to move on, it's often in the company's best interest. Difficult decisions like these can get us closer to the harmony we strive for in business and in life.
And remember my dear friend, it is NOT failure if one of your product attempts doesn’t work out, and YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE.
Every step, every product, every hiccup is part of our journey and leads to growth. It's a chance to adapt, change, and relaunch a winning product in the future.
Keep shining, lovely lady! I’m excited to see what unfolds for you next! 🌟
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Here are some additional resources to support you on your productivity journey! 👇
Save up to 50% on your grocery bill with our training “Nourishing Meals at Half the Cost” !
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