Are You Selling a Product or Running a Business? (VendDigest #2)

From time to time, I speak with our clients on Zwiift (USSD on SIMHosting), and I ask them, what do you do? The response I received nine out of 10 times was "I sell airtime and data". Each time I get such a response, my bowel churn so tightly that I have to move on in utter silence. 

When probed further, such answers reveal that many in the vending industry are product-focused. This scenario reminds me of how many were presented with "SMS business" as the next big thing in 2012-2015. I can count the number of active SMS service providers from that era on the fingers of my hands. Trying to do business with a focus on product is like building a skyscraper on quicksand.

One excellent example of a company that focused on products rather than the customers and failed miserably was Koday. In 1975 an employee of Kodak, Steve Sasson, developed the digital camera prototype. However, the management of Kodak was focused on the products - selling films and printing photos. This product-focused approach eventually led to Kodak filing for bankruptcy in 2012.

The lesson? Instead of focusing on the product, focus on the customers. Here are some reasons to shift your attention away from the product to the customers.

• You need to focus on the customers and their needs to get the bigger picture of your business. When you focus on the product, you think of how to sell more products at the expense of customer satisfaction.
• No product sells forever. At one point or the other, your customers' tastes might outgrow your products, or the customers find new ways to solve old problems. Focusing on the customers allows you to monitor the trends and knows when to start developing or sourcing new products and services.
• Understanding your customers' needs can help develop the current products and services and see avenues to generate new income streams.
• Always remember that the customers pay the bills, not the products.

What You Can Do Right now

• Using your current customer base, figure out who is buying from you right now. These exercises should go into depth to reveal the different customer groups (personas), each with unique identities.
• What problems are they using your products and services to solve
• Why are they choosing your business to provide the products and service? The answers to this question might reveal some Unique Selling Points you currently possess but you need to maximize.
• Find adjacent problems that your products can solve for your existing customers.
• Find adjacent leads that you use the information above to convert to customers.

Lastly, what are some points you can consider before answering the question "What do you do?". The answer will discuss in our next instalment of VendDigest.