Want to create a new market? Focus on what others overlook
Don't look where the light is. Look where the keys are
Traditional marketing can teach you how to sell more. It knows how to reach not only your non-customers but even anti-customers. It offers many valuable tools to identify unmet customer needs, even those customers themselves aren’t aware of.
You may have heard Andy Grove’s phrase, “Snow melts from the edges,” and read Rita McGrath’s book Seeing Around Corners, in which she urges businesses to look for innovative ideas on the ‘fringes’ of their markets.
But here’s what everyone misses: if you want to create a new market, start with your most loyal customers.
We should look for the keys where they are.
“We don’t sell machinery. We sell business”
John Smith (name changed) was the CEO of XYZ company (this also isn’t the real name). XYZ sold air compressors and was the local market leader.
XYZ had ambitious plans for 2017, but John Smith wasn’t worried. The largest clients had already placed pre-orders for the year, and these orders were significantly larger than th…