What do you do when nobody seems to want you? You think you've got a great product or service to offer, but no one seems to want to buy from you. Start by looking outside, then look inward.

You need begin by looking outward, examining the marketplace to make sure that you have a real market. Are you the only person in the world offering this service or product? If so, maybe you're appealing to a non-existent market. If you're the only person making yak-butter-derived axle grease for bicycles, maybe your lack of sales means that the marketplace has no interest in this type of product. Think about making something else, perhaps a more conventional bicycle lubricant.

Is the market big enough to support your product or service? In New York City, obviously a very large metro market, there's a retail store called Just Bulbs. They sell light bulbs. Not lamp shades, light switches or lamp bases - just bulbs. I doubt that such a store could survive in, say, Yacolt, Washington. The market there just isn't big enough to support it.

Assuming that you've found others who have businesses like yours in the area or in similar-sized metro areas, you need to find out how they're doing. If they're all starving-to-death just like you, maybe the market for your product or service is evaporating. This is what happened to buggy whip manufacturers in the early 20th Century. I suspect that it's happening to traditional typewriter repair shops right now. I don't know about you, but my typewriter's been in a closet gathering dust for several years now so it won't be needing repair anytime soon. Like most of us, I use my computer for writing and the market for computer repair is booming. If you're in a market that's declining, you need to evolve into another market or market segment.

Suppose that, in your examination of other, similar businesses, you've found a few who are doing quite well. You now need to look inward, comparing your business with theirs, and ask, "What makes them different from me? What are they doing that I'm not? What elements seem to make them successful?" Do they go after different types, categories or sizes of customers than you do? Do they advertise and promote their business differently? Do they devote more time to selling than you? Answers to these questions will uncover new, previously-hidden opportunities for your own business.

Finally, you should go back to prospects who said, "No." When they turned down your product or service, what did they do? Buy from a competitor? If so, why? Which competitor? What influenced their decision? How can you use this information to obtain future business?

In the current economy, no company should be experiencing declining sales or should be going out of business. There are always alternatives. Other customers, markets, tactics and strategies. By finding out why nobody wants you, you can change your business to make its offerings more desirable to customers and prospects. And re-make your company into one that everybody wants.