I am Julia Shalet, Product Doctor. I am a successful innovator, product leader, qualitative researcher, project director, trainer, university tutor & event creator with a ton of experience from a broad range of sectors and organisation types.

For the past 25 years I have worked in start-ups, with self-employed, small and medium organisations, corporates and the third sector. I have managed high-value product portfolios, brought many successful new propositions to market and saved time, effort and money by ditching propositions that are just not flying.

Some of these successes have attracted national TV, radio and newspaper coverage from BBC Inside Out, The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, Harpers Bazaar and BBC Radio 4.

Got an idea and not sure of your next step?

Are you working on a new idea but not sure it’s worth investing your time, energy and money?

The most common reason given for new ventures to fail is that the creators have misunderstood what their audiences really need and want. Analysts including Neilson (the global market research & data analytics company) quote failure rates for new ventures as being between 70 and 90 per cent. So it is understandable if you feel apprehensive!

I have helped hundreds of people evaluate, hone and progress their ideas through interactive workshops, one-to-one mentoring and by carrying out idea development & qualitative research on their behalf. With each interaction I have been able to further develop, test and refine my hands-on approach, tools, templates, techniques and tips to address common challenges and avoid common pitfalls. All of these are nestled within an approach I have created called The Really Good Idea Test™.

By discovering first-hand how their audiences feel, think and are going to behave, innovators are able to gather evidence to make decisions on how to move forward. These decisions have led them to discover unexpected new revenues, run successful marketing campaigns, establish strong brand identities, improve customer satisfaction, discover more fitting target audiences, stop work and redeploy resources, establish licensing deals and make cost savings.

Here are some of the brands I have helped over the years to develop new propositions: from small ideas to big new launches, product lines and campaigns. They include established organisations, brand new initiatives, startups in various schemes, students and postgrads at universities. The ideas have come from a massive range of sectors including Energy, Fashion, Health, Retail, Digital Media, Food, Mass Media, Automotive, Sport, Education, Finance, Hospitality, Gaming, Technology and Mobile Applications, Music and Travel.

Product Doctor is a member of the Market Research Society and abides by the MRS Code of Conduct.