Understanding your Customer

Understanding your Customer Product Opportunity Gap

How the Customer Explained it and How the Project Leader Understood it

How the Programmer Wrote it and How the Consultant Described it

How the Operations Installed

How the Customer was billed!!

What the Customer REALLY Needed!!!!

Opportunity Recognition A Business idea arises in response to

the opportunities in the market:

• Meeting the customer’s need and want for products or services

• Solving customer’s problem• Creating a want that does not exist

How do you do utilize this opportunity?

New market / existing product

New market/ new product

Existing market / existing product

Existing market/ new product

Customer Discovery

Customer = Market

Understand who you are selling your product to and why they will buy it.

Customer DiscoveryDo you really know your customer ?• What are the problems that your

product solves?• Do customers perceive these problems

that as important or “must have?” Why would someone buy your

product /service?• Cheaper • Better • Faster

What is the customer buying?

PRICE??

Value to customer

Ability to provide unique product/service

HIGH

HIGH

LOW

LOW

How good is your market ?What is your estimate about the size of

your market ? No. of customers , Total size of the market

Average spend per customer Monthly , Quarterly , Annually

Will you have more and more customers buying from you even in the future?

Economic Conditions , Demographic Changes , Technology Shifts , Regulations – Do they matter?

Fundamental and, in fact, fatal error.

Startups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a proven financial model.

Customer Value Statement - Exercise

 For [customer] who has [wants, need, opportunities], the [product name] is a [product category] that [compelling reason for customer to buy/key benefit to customer]. This product [unique ways it is better and different from others].