It's not what you say...

...it’s what the customer believes.  And nothing else really matters.

I’ve lost count of the hopeful entrepreneurs who get frustrated with me to the point of saying “You just don’t get it!” It almost makes me laugh just thinking back on these conversations. It would make me laugh if it wasn’t so tragic. These folks are operating in the It’s All About Me mode. They don’t understand that their customer just doesn’t care. Customers care only about themselves. How will your product make my life better? How does your service help me run my business more smoothly? How will doing business with you help me make more money?

In many ways it’s a feature vs. benefit type of discussion. Except is not about features. It’s about a business owner or hopeful business owner who thinks that what they want and what they think matters to the market. Many of these people just don’t get that what they think and what they want to happen is irrelevant. The market always does what it wants to do. Customers almost always behave in a way that benefits them. Your hype and internal beliefs relative to the market’s behavior just don’t matter.

You can tell me all day long that your company (that is YOU) believes that the sky is red, but when I see that it’s blue, I’m not going to buy from you. Most times this misguided belief comes from not doing any research or doing the wrong kind of research. Most times the answers are there if you just look hard enough.

I’ve been talking about research a lot lately. It’s just so important to really understand what the market wants and needs before you go throw your money after a bad dream. In fact, one of my goals as a business coach and consultant is to keep people from throwing their life’s savings away on a harebrained idea. Starting a business is really hard. It takes its toll on your personal life, your savings account, your physical and mental well-being. If you have a great idea at the right time and right place with the right business model, you just might make your fortune. If just one of those factors is off, you’re likely to end up in bankruptcy court.

I’m not saying don’t try to start a new business. I hope you will try. All I’m saying is to make sure you understand what the market wants first and don’t try to force your ideas on a market that wants something different.