AS AN ENTREPRENEUR, WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER? (1)

Before we begin, let’s destroy the myth called Entrepreneurship Gene. There is none. Entrepreneurship can be taught. While in the school of trial and errors, or knowing the facts by following proven principles, remember this, Action, not truth, will set you free as an Entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur, you don’t see the world through your eyes, company’s perspective or gut feeling, no matter how exotic they are. You must see the world through your customers’ eyes. There’s no better pair of lenses than the customers’ eyes. It is called, entrepreneurial garment.

We all know that customer is king and their kingship reign forever, as far as business is concerned. And to miss or discard the whims and desires of these royalties is like staging an orchestra in your living room without an audience – a total waste of time. Remember again, it is the customer and only the customer that determines how good and viable you products are. It doesn’t matter if you think your products are world class or out of this world, if your customer doesn’t share your view, you might as well send the products to outer space!

Note also, that while we keep paying customers enthroned in their high places, it is worthy of note to know that not everybody is your customer. So everybody is not royalty; only those who are your target customers. This is important to have at the back of your mind as an entrepreneur, so that you don’t just market to the wrong people, get booed and then you dash off, feeling like a failure.

Now how do you know your customers? Here are the ways to identify your customers:

1    Conduct market segmentation
2.       Select your Beachhead Market
3.       Develop an End User Profile
4.       Estimate the Total Addressable Market Size (TAM)
5.       Profile the persona

In doing the above listed, your goal is to find a homogenous group or target customers to which you can service and worship. Also while you are at it, you also broaden your tentacles to initiate or entice those who are not in this group to join in. There are basically two ways to create your customers: either you find out what they need and provide it or produce something and make them need it. Every entrepreneur does the first but only geniuses do the second.