In order to understand your market you need information. Information of many kinds:
- You need to know what’s happening in your market if you are to find new opportunities.
- In order to develop a strategy you need organized information about your external environment.
- You need information equally about your customers and non-customers
- What you don’t know will hurt you.
- Lack of external information is the biggest challenge for businesses.
- The army call it ‘intelligence’ and you need in now more than ever.
Example:
Cardiac medication companies were very profitable at one time. But the lacked intelligence – they lacked information on the pacemaker, and were wiped out.
Even with a huge 30% market share there are 70% of potential customers you know nothing about.
Example:
Up till the 1980s American department stores had 28% of the consumer market share. No other business knew more about their customers than they did.
But there were 72% of people that they knew nothing about. They were not aware that they affluent don’t shop at department stores. They were unaware that new customers don’t shop at department stores. Why? Nobody knows – they just don’t.
By the end of the 1980s, that 71% had become the dominant group and dictated how we shop. Department stores died.
Market share plummeted – they didn’t know their non-customers. They knew everything there was to know about their customers, but they slowly died off.
Knowing your market is a necessity, but so is knowing what is happening within your market and outside of it.
Knowing your customers is a necessity, but so is understanding who your non-customers are, why they are not your customers and how they could shape the market in the future.
You need to know what is happening in your market – what are the trends? What are the innovations? Not only innovations in products, but also in marketing techniques and advertising. What are customers expecting: will your way be viable in 10 years or must you strategise for the future?
It’s intelligence, and what will keep you in business as your competitors flounder.
‘Helping Leaders build great organisations”
(C) Daniel Lock.
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