RECOGNIZE A POTENTIAL MARKET

• What is potential market?

• Market potential is the entire size of the market for a product at a specific time.

• It represents the upper limits of the market for a product.
•  Market potential is usually measured either by sales value or sales volume. 
IDENTIFYING MARKETPROBLEMS
Building Products To Meet Customers’ Needs

• To deliver products that solve your target customers’ problems, you must first identify market
problems.
• The market consists of:
1. Existing customers: 
People who have already purchased your product

2. Prospects: 
People who have not yet purchased your product but are considering it
3. Target market users:
 People in your target market who are not currently looking for a solution

• Traps To Avoid When Listening To Your Market

1. Focusing only on innovation and the competition

• As an entrepreneur, it is easy to focus on building innovative solutions that do not connect

directly to market problems; just because you can innovate doesn’t always mean that you
should.
Instead, ask the following questions to ensure that you are solving a problem for your target market:
• What problem does this solution solve?
• Is this a problem experienced by my target market?
• What would my target market do if I didn’t solve this problem?
• Example

• Problem: You've been using a mouse for years without any support for your forearm.

1. What problem does this solution solve?

Solution: Mouse Armrest and Carpel Tunnel Corner

2.Is this a problem experienced by my target market?

Who are my target market? Office workers, telemarketers etc

3.What would my target market do if I didn’t solve this problem?

• using a computer mouse becomes hazardous!!!
• Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs).
 • Traps To Avoid When Listening To Your Market

2. Focusing only on customers

• Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster
horses.”

• Customers understand problems, but they cannot help you to move your product forward.

• They know what you provide, and tend to stay inside that mindset

• Customers are a source of input, but not the only source of input.

• This is why talking to prospects and target market users (who have not purchased your
products) is key to rounding out the picture. They often see things beyond your current
product.

• Traps To Avoid When Listening To Your Market

3. Focusing only on revenue

• By listening only to prospects, and delivering only what the next customer wants, you will gain
revenue but miss out on market opportunities.

• It is critical to find a balance between prospects and customers to ensure that your future
revenue is protected, while still keeping existing customers happy.

• Stated Versus Silent Market Needs

• Stated needs are explicit statements from your market that declare, “I want a product to do
X.” While stated needs are important, they are not as powerful as silent needs, which are
problems with as yet undefined solutions.

• Example

• I want a product that make my skin to whiten.

• Example

• While doing market research, a major TV manufacturer uncovered the problem that people
regularly misplace their TV remote control. Customers did not identify this as a problem that
needed solving, but it was a common issue.

• By listening to the customers’ silent need, the company was able to develop a feature that
resonated with its target market (a “remote-control finder” button on the TV itself).

• Lost Remote Control Finder.

• Tile is a tiny Bluetooth tracker and easy-to-use app that finds everyday items in seconds—like
your phone, remote, and keys.

• Never lose anything again.

• Attach to anything.

• Stick, hook or attach Tile to anything you care about

• See it. Ring it. Find it.

• See the last place you had it on a map and make it ring when you get close.

•
Find your phone.

• Simply press any of your Tiles to make your phone ring–even on silent!

• Using this outside-in approach enables you to concentrate on and solve your target market’s
problems.

• Listening to the market is the best research you can do to ensure that you build the right
solution.