Thoughts, ideas, and lessons learned from real-world customer engagements and interactions...
Getting clear on your target!
9 Feb 2010 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Customer Development, Marketing
Last week I had the opportunity to once again present the “Accelerating To First Customers” session at the Lead To Win program. As always, this fantastic program had some of the greatest new companies in Ottawa participating.
One of the key things that I cover in this session is how to get crystal clear on the true target market for your product or service. This is one of the core fundamentals of any business no matter their size, maturity, etc. It does not matter if you are a start-up who is going through the Customer Development and Lean Startup processes or if you are an existing company that has some great sales results already on the scoreboard. If you do not get this step right, then the list of potential problems ranging from spending precious marketing dollars on marketing to the wrong audience all the way through to even developing a solution that is not truly needed by the market can present itself. The ripple effect of this core mistake can be felt right across the whole company and the problems will present itself in many different forms.
I have done previous posts on this topic so I will not repeat any of these. However, there are two sources of additional information that I have come across and I wanted to share regarding this topic. First, if you are a follower of the Lean Startup and Customer Development methodologies then you may have heard of Giff Constable who is the CEO of a new upcoming start-up company called Aprizi. If you are not familiar with him then be sure to check out his blog. He just did a recent post entitled Targeting Matters! which I think is worth the read.
Knowing your market is not just for business
24 Jun 2009 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Customers, News
Recently, the CEO of one of the largest IT companies in the world which is based out of India is quoted as stating “…Most American Graduates are Unemployable…”. You can find the whole article here.
Why is this the case? Did America and its academic standards and practices just become “stupid” or obsolete overnight?
No…the reality is that this was not something that has taken place overnight but rather has taken place over the last number of years. In my opinion, the issue is that the academic system has grown more and more out of touch with their target market and the “customers” of their solution. Think about this….the purpose of the academic system is to train and educated people so that they may be marketable, and can go off into the world in order to make a positive impact on society and the world as a whole. However, the world has been changing over the last number of years, and it seems that many of these academic institutions have not been paying attention this change and have not adapted in order to meet their “customers” needs. The academic institutions have not taken the time to work with the “customers” who will be buying (hiring) the students who are leaving the school. They have not taken the time to spend time with the companies in the industry to better understand their changing requirements, their needs, and where they feel their needs are going to be in the future. As a result of all of this, they have produced graduates which companies feel are “unemployable” for various reasons.
Now, not all academic institutions fall into this category. Take Carleton University and the Talent First Network here in Ottawa Canada. Under the leadership of Dr. Tony Bailetti, they have released a program called the Lead To Win. Although this does not fit with the typical scenario of recruiting students from secondary schools, this program is an example of knowing your market and what it truly needs. The Lead To Win program knows that entrepreneurs and new companies are vital to the community around them. They understand that by creating new companies in a region, not only does it attract more money which helps the overall economy, it also creates new jobs, new investment money, etc. The Lead To Win program is open to anyone in the community who would like to start a new business. The people and companies selected for this program are put through some intense training by not only the academic institution, but also by leaders within the industry who have “done it in the past”. As part of the program, they also put in place a system to help the graduating companies to get their first set of paying customers and also assist with introductions and preparations for gaining investment money, etc. The result of this program on the last go around in 2002 was the creation of over 300 new jobs and over $90 Million in investment money.
The Lead To Win program is a perfect example of the benefits of being in touch with your target audience and customers. It demonstrates that knowing your target markets needs, their issues, their future requirements is what separates a successful academic or training program from an unsuccessful one. This is a fundamental truth for everyone and every organization and is just as important to the educational market as it is to the business market.
It is not too late for change. So, if you are someone that is involved in the world of education, then the best thing you can do today is to take the time to better understand your target market, and get out and talk with them. If you are a charity, then get out there and talk to your target market to understand their needs….If you are an individual who is looking for a job…..again get out and talk to some people within the market where your skills are required. And finally, if you are a company or business get out and to speak with your customers and potential customers today to ensure you and your solutions do not become obsolete and “unemployable” tomorrow.
