Building and growing your business depends on knowing what your market wants or needs. What is often forgotten or not addressed is that there are two ways of understanding our markets: we can see what they are wanting and needing now (market demand) or what they will want and need in the future (projection of market).
Market demand is what most small business advisors are talking about. Most of the advice is about timing your commercial and marketing offers for everything that people are demanding.
A business that only focuses on what the market is demanding will lose out to companies that have a vision of what people really need now and also in the future. Entrepreneurs of this type soon become leaders in the industry, while those who only focus on market demand are always several steps behind the leaders.
To the forecast I call it in this case, the projection of the market.
Considering that market demand is about the past and present of your business, the projection of the market is about the future of your business and industry.
We have to be careful with the projection of the market, however, because it is completely possible to take the wrong path regarding the community of our niche and where they want to go. What is confused is that sometimes our community does not know where it wants to go and other times it seems that they want to go somewhere, but in reality they do not.
For example, many people want to start an online business because they have been led to believe that it is easy, fast and profitable. They have been conditioned to think only about the launch of their first product, so that what they are demanding are resources around the creation of products and their launches. From my point of view, what they really need is a better strategy and business model, as they are starting. Focusing on this stage on tactics, instead of strategy, makes it feasible to imagine where they will end up.
This is an old problem, which leads to sell what they want and not to offer what they really need. In my consulting services, I make bold efforts so that they understand that I must give them what they need and not what they want, but always the machine paraphernalia of the sale without consideration, ends up winning, and they go after it leaving aside the proposal of projection.
Why do I say in principle? because sometimes it happens that the person realizes that after having gone through the compulsive purchase, nothing has served him or little has covered the expectations. Then, he decides to rethink and put into practice take what was really his need. But, in other cases, having made this mistake, it ends with the venture because it does not have the economic capacity to react.
The previous case is an example of when “what people want and what they need” diverge. But, there is also another case where people simply do not know where they are trying to go. A perspective where the person in particular, takes the syndrome of the round business, and he spends looking for attractive opportunities but, that does not have to commit with any of them. “The Easy Business”. Something that many pseudo specialists (Gurus) see with pleasure, when preparing products of the type “how to earn a million in 90 days” and that in view of their results the market smiles at them.
When you start thinking about the projection of the market, the main question is: “Am I working in my market on what you really need?” If you are sure that it is, then you will be offering practical, useful, and valuable benefits for him. , and also you are in a very good position with respect to your competitors.
If instead, your desire is to take your business to the place of day to day, and covering only the current market demand, listen to me, re-evaluate it.
Obviously, since this is a debate about strategy, I can not tell you in an article like this what you should do in your business. But, I can leave you some guidance questions such as the following:
- Is your market currently demanding?
- How does your business work against what the market is demanding?
- Do you take what you need to your market or does it give you what you want?
- What skills, capabilities and solutions does your market offer for the future?
- Does your market have the desire to go where you are going?
- How is your vision regarding the current needs of the market?
Finally: It is good to meet the needs of your market and the wishes of today, but always be prepared to detect and act on what you really need, rather than what he wants. In this way, you will be continually one step ahead, covering ahead of time what you will need tomorrow.