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| Subject: Part 6b - What Is Your Business' Target? | |
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Author: Dennis S. Vogel |
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Date Posted: 23:39:47 09/27/05 Tue In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "Part 6a - Be Sure Your Business Is On Target" on 17:00:34 09/26/05 Mon Another possible problem could be your specialty is too narrow for the local population. I’d like to tell every business owner to get rid of about half of the product lines they have. A small amount of product lines/categories would make it easier for them to be remembered as providing something specific. BUT it might not be practical depending on the population base of the trade zones. There are, at least, 2 possibilities- 1) There aren’t enough people in the area to buy a narrowly focused product line; 2) The number of prospects is high enough for a business to sell enough inventory from a narrowly focused product line. Either way, a specialty store can be successful, it depends how its specialty is defined. That’s a major premise of marketing. Some of this issue will covered in later posts. In the late 1960’s, a guy in a city of about 30,000 people (a trade zone of up to 50,000 in the county), owned “The Pants Shop.” He might have stocked some T-shirts, but not many. He had shelves of pants up to a level of about 10 feet. I was only about 9 years old, so my idea of success wasn’t fully formed. I remember wondering how the store could survive just selling pants. But it seemed he was doing well, but his family closed the store when he died. Maybe it was too stressful for him, he was probably between 40 & 50 years-old. It was when S.S. Kresge had small downtown stores, it hadn’t started Kmart yet. I don’t know if The Pants Shop would’ve survived in a world of big discount stores. The Pants Shop was about a block & half from a Kresge store & also close to Montgomery Ward & J.C. Penney in the days before shopping malls became popular. There was customer traffic drawn by the well-known stores. I don’t know if The Pants Shop advertised or not. I remember going from store to store to get pants for the scrawny kid I was then. Most pants that were long enough were too big. Finding shirts wasn’t a problem. So, for a kid like me the middle-of-the-road selection of most stores wasn’t suitable. Too many stores, then & now, stocked what the owners figure a majority of customers (would) want. But that majority may be just 40%. Another 10% might want/need something different. 2 other groups of 25% each might demand vastly different products. The Pants Shop was in a small building, but with a lot of pants on a lot of shelves, he could have a big, very wide selection of styles & sizes. So, while the store existed, that was the place for somebody, like me, to get pants to fit my waist & long legs. This may be like the stupid debate about a glass being half-full or half-empty, but there’s a point to this issue. Even if some think the majority consists people who buy a particular product, the true majority could be people who don’t buy it. Just like politicians being elected by popular vote. They don’t need the votes of the majority of people, they just need more votes than their opponents. If there are 4 candidates & each get some votes, the winner probably won’t be elected by more than 50% of voters. But big stores need to appeal to as many in a target market as they can get to cover expenses, get a profit, retain & gain investors. If the local population is 500,000, a target market of 10% of them might be profitable. 1- So, depending what you offer, do you have the right selection for the target market? 1a- Do people come but leave without buying because they thought you offer something else? This probably means you’re reaching the wrong target market. Maybe your store looks like it would offer something else to a different group. Maybe your marketing messages are distributed to the wrong group. Possibly, your messages &/or offers are structured the wrong way. Maybe there are successful stores in other cities you can get ideas from. 1b- Do people leave without buying because you’ve run out of what they want? If so, you have the right target market for at least some things you offer. When I worked for Montgomery Ward, a recurring task for me was packing up boxes of small men’s clothing so it could be hauled to stores in cities with a lot of Asians who needed smaller clothes. When clothing shipments were sent, they consisted of what could be called a bell curve selection. A few of each style in small sizes, a lot in mid-range sizes & a few large & tall sizes. I remember guys about my size or bigger leaving frustrated because the clothing they needed was already gone. A store, like The Pants Shop, would’ve appealed to them because they’d have a good chance of getting stylish & comfortable-fitting pants. If there are enough prospects (who aren’t getting what they need/want, or who buy what’s available just because ideal products/services aren’t available) there may be a profitable opportunity. This is the foundation of using asymmetries to succeed. Your task now is searching for gaps between what people 1) want/need & what’s available; 2) expect & actually get or settle for. Then determine how what you offer relieves that, at least, temporarily. The discussion I suggested in earlier posts are important for this also. Input -- from prospects, customers, other store owners & their customers, trade associations & the questions they ask you -- should help you find asymmetries to use profitably. These will be profitable to you, because you’ll helping people improve their situations. I started my replies in this thread as steps. But that implies 1 thing happens before another thing can occur. That’s not how every aspect of successful marketing is built on the foundation of the whole program. You may have noticed I’m not presenting these concepts in a totally linear way. It’s hard to make it linear, because these are really parts. Successful marketers work on the fundamentals along with the advanced aspects. We need to build, then evaluate. We attach a wall to the floor, then attach another wall to the floor & to the first wall. That’s why it may seem I have you focus on what you already did. Because though you did it, you’re still not done. I’m really asking you to focus on another part of what you did. It's like adding another wall. Dennis S. Vogel thrivingbusiness@email.com Building a complete marketing program takes time & effort. When you do it the right way, it lasts. Here are some of the sources of information you need for lasting success. http://web1.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/ http://www.voy.com/31049/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Part 6c - Expand Your Knowledge Base & You’ll Expand Your Success With Less Risk | Dennis S. Vogel | 00:05:11 10/03/05 Mon |
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