How can I help my friend target the right businesses?

Dear Aunty B,

I know you’re a very busy lady, But a very good friend of mine is trying to start his own ‘business knowledge’ firm; he’s got experience in that area.

Now, I’ve done my bit for him – leveraging Roy Morgan and Nielsen. But I’m still not able to come up with potential marketing opportunities for him.

Are you able to suggest some ways he could go about targetting businesses that need intelligence and information about the market place?

Good friend,
Sydney

Dear Good friend,

Your friend must answer this question: which business is he in? It is the most important question to answer when starting a business. No, I don’t want to hear what he was good in at his last job. Nor what he liked to do. Nor what he thinks the marketplace wants.

I want to hear what his potential customers want. Whaaat? He can’t find any? He can’t find businesses that might want to buy his services? Then all he has an idea – not a potential business opportunity.

Now let’s turn this question on its head. Get your friend to sit down with you. Don’t let him tell you what he is good at or what he likes doing or what the marketplace needs. All you want to hear about are his customers.

But he hasn’t got any, I hear you say. Well, think again. Whether you like it or not, your friend does have competitors. That’s right. In the marketplace there is someone doing what you want to do right now.

Now maybe they are still using ancient technology. Maybe the service is appalling. Maybe they are still hanging from trees in the jungle! But they are there. So you look at who their customers are. That’s easy. People give away so much on their websites and of course you can find out who their customers are from IBIS and other information services.

So you make a list of your competitor’s clients. Put them in industry categories. Put them in a list of most likely to buy to least likely to buy. Now try and study everything you know about those customers.

What “business knowledge are they buying”? How are they buying it? What are they paying? When do they buy it? How do you find that stuff out? You ask. Go and see them. Ask other people who sell to them. Ask people in your industry who are retired. Ask anyone and everyone about these customers. And of course, while you are doing that you are thinking how you can provide something to these customers that is better, faster, smarter, quicker, cheaper… did I say better??

The answer to all that is a refined business idea that is focussed on a niche that competitors are doing poorly – and a list of potential customers.

If your friend’s answer to this is there are no competitors but he still believes in his idea, then tell him to find deep pockets. He will need to raise a lot of money to create and educate the marketplace about his new service – and that is not something you want to do because firstly, it costs a bomb and secondly, you have no market validation for your product until you have spent a lot of money.

Once he has the list of potential clients he needs to look at the next big challenge – how does he reach them?

I’ll write about that tomorrow!

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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