Defining Your Product or Service Going into business without a clear idea of what you're selling spells disaster.

To succeed in business, you need to know exactly what you areoffering your customers. Let's say you've decided to sellgift baskets. Your next decisions involve what the baskets willlook like, what products you will put inside them, how many stylesyou will offer and how they'll be priced. Or, if you want tostart a mail-order business, will you provide overnight delivery,allow customers to pay with credit cards or offer money-backguarantees?

Putting these kinds of questions on paper is a good start. Then,write a full description of your product or service. This will helpimmensely in the future, once you start creating advertisingcampaigns and sales presentations. The better you know your productor service, the better you can sell it.

Excerpted from Starting a Home-based Business