The fastest way to build a thriving business is to sell a lot of product, right?

In order to build a thriving business, you only need two things - a hungry target audience and a product they want to buy. And, I stress "what they want to buy " not what you want to sell.

So how do you find out what products to invest time and money developing?

You ask! Ask your prospects, clients and customers what they want to know or what problems they want to solve. They will tell you, often in great detail.

While there are numerous ways to gather this information. Here are three of the fastest and most effective:

• Email: If you have a list of prospects, clients and customers, send an email to everyone on the list soliciting their most burning question about your topic or area of expertise.
• Phone survey: If you have captured phone numbers for those on your list, you can do this the old fashion way - call people on your list to ask them what they want to know about your topic. While time intensive, this method can build really strong relationships with those on your list.
• On-line survey tool and database: There are a number of services that provide robust database survey tools that do everything from setting up a mini website for your survey to analyzing your data. To increase the number of participants, you may want to offer an ethical bribe such as a free teleseminar, e-course, or short report.

So before you spend another minute or another dollar developing a product, conduct a survey to find out what your customers want and where you should invest your resources. You'll be glad you did.