Most Important vs. Most Difficult

Folks,

The reason I teach on the side is because teaching is the fastest way to
understand a topic, and occasionally the parts will fall together and become
clear to me. Let me offer this note on a point that has come together for me
recently...

The most important thing is the customer in this business and any business
and this is a point I've already made. Of course, no product (or service),
then no customer. So coming up with the right product is critical.

What I teach is to grow a business from a problem you experience, and offer a
solution that will please your customers. This is sound in theory and in
experience, and in what we see historically in businesses we see that thrive.
So far so good.

Here is the rub: those who come to the class with a product in mind, or a
resource like a contact overseas, or a desire that focusses on a resource and
not on a customer tend to run into problem not in finding a product, which is
rather simple in such instances, but finding a customer.

So let me refine my arguments a step further today: The easier it is to find
your product, the harder it is to find a customer. I am afraid this is one
of those revelations that is so obvious that it is embarrassing to admit I
just realized it. I dare say I knew this before, it was just
"pre-articulate"...that is I never had put it so pithily before.

Let me elucidate with an exaggeration. Toblerone chocolate is a brand
familiar world-wide. Surely you can find a customer anytime and anywhere.
And you can get it easy enough, if not directly from the factory, then
certainly from one of the multitudinous distributors. Now comes time to find
a customer in the USA. Since Toblerone is so easy to come by, competing on
price is required, or narrow margins. And with narrow margins, volume is
required. Now the product was easy to find, but we have to find a customer
who will trust us to handle a very big load of chocolate. Proper finance,
logistics, handling, etc. must be organized and the product delivered on
time, normally within a 24 hour "delivery window." Who will trust us with
such a deal? And as we have seen, forget WalMart.

Or how about the business that proposes to sell native handicrafts, the idea
that one might visit a country, buy up samples of various items, bring them
back to sell at a trade show? Will this work. Sadly no, even if you try to
charge a nice premium price on your items. The reason is that the items are
rather easy to find, and therefore you are probably the 10,000th person in
the last 25 years to bring those exact items to a trade show, and becoming
disenchanted as nothing sells, or sell so little as to never cover the costs
of the trade show booth, etc. you quit.

Now I dont expect people who are excited about the idea they presently have
in mind to be persuaded by me. Indeed, I think I am a terrible judge of what
sells, hence my complete dependence on the retailers themselves. And since
none of them claims to have any idea of what sells either, we all depend on
their ability to take small test orders to get us precise feedback from the
ultimate consumer.

So again, don't trust me. No matter what your plan, idea, hopes prayers, at
some point you must speak to a customer. You are free to do this first,
instead of last. Certainly the earlier you speak to a customer the better.
The customer will dispel all nonsense instantly. They will tell you. No
charge. if your product solves a problem and provides a benefit not
otherwise available, then the conversation with the retailer will be easy.
If it has been done before, or serves no particular purpose, you may find the
conversation harder.

My goal in this class is to get you to the point faster than you otherwise
would. A thriving company is the point. I offer this to that end. I also
invite critique, challenges, disagreements, etc on this point, especially
since it is newly presented and untested by peer review.

And keep in mind, the means I advocate are far more fun, faster, easier and
profitable than those I challenge in my arguments.

john Spiers

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