When you have a great suggestion to solve a work problem but are unsure if your supervisor would approve, what do you do? You might ask “Can I show you something?” or you might look for encouraging body language when describing it. You are putting the feelers out. The same applies when testing out business ideas; you suggest something to see how receptive your target audience is to it.
For example…
Let’s say your surf-loving, ‘super-cool-dude’ friend Tom came up with an idea of a hat with sunglasses attached to it, so you wouldn’t have to carry them separately when visiting the beach. Nifty! You suggest that Tom put the feelers out to the beachgoers to see if they would find such a product useful before he goes about commercialising the idea. The crowd don’t particularly see the ‘fun’ in the idea, nor do they think that they would pay money for it. A bit sad for Tom, but putting the feelers out did potentially save him from a lot of future pain!
