David Meerman Scott, author of the extremely popular book The New Rules of Marketing and PR
The book reinforces an extremely good rule of thumb for all businesses, and that’s listening. But listening takes many forms and your audience won’t always talk directly to you by filling out a questionnaire or attending a focus group. You have to dig deeper and “Tuned In” walks you through the process of discovering new opportunities, understanding the persona of the buyer, creating a unique experience and quantifying the ROI to fill the need. The book delivers a series of real world examples to show you how the “Tuned In” theory has been filled in the past.
I finished “Tuned In” a while ago, (David was nice enough to give me an advanced copy. We met for dinner a couple months ago. Check out my video interview with him.) but decided to write about it tonight because of an interesting conversation I had last night with someone pitching me their new business idea.
A really bad business pitch
It’s always a bad sign when someone begins pitching their new business idea, proudly announces they’ve done no research, and then in the same breath says, “I don’t know of any other company that’s doing what I’m doing.”
Ouch. If I was a potential investor I’d show him the door.
As he described the idea, I began to question it and also list more than seven alternatives of what he’s trying to do. Some directly competitive and others indirectly competitive.
We were at a party, talking casually, but I was offering up some free industry advice. One of my many hats is as an industry consultant, sometimes for the Gerson Lehrman Group, where I offer consultations for investors and entrepreneurs looking to get into a new market.
He admitted to not having heard of any of the competitors I mentioned. I was really shocked given that they were all major players in the industry he hoped to join. Instead of asking me more about these companies, his competitors, he cut me off further trying to explain his business. I reasserted that there were alternative solutions. He never implored further and I never had the opportunity to explain how his competitors worked.
Usually when I talk to entrepreneurs and investors and I tell them about competing products, they immediately pull out a pen and start writing. This guy didn’t. It’s like he didn’t care to know. I don’t know if he even heard what I said. Heck, if I was in this guy’s shoes and someone told me about a direct competitor to my business, Spark Media Solutions, I’d write it down, look it up, and call them. You never know, they could become partners. :)
I haven’t seen this man’s product, and he admittedly was not giving me a full explanation. It’s very possible that it could offer something new, unusual, and solve a given need in a unique way. But given the way he was interacting with me, I think it’s highly unlikely. The main reason:
He didn’t listen.
You learn so much more when you listen to your market.
I was retelling this story last night to Mary Hodder of Dabble hours after the conversation and we agreed there’s nothing more depressing than watching an entrepreneur proud of their ignorance of their own market. Here’s a warning to any entrepreneur that is pitching their business:
NEVER say you don’t have any competition.
There’s nothing that sets off my BS detector faster than hearing that. I am not alone. I’ve discussed this with other journalists and industry analysts and we’re sick of smug business people that think they’ve created something in an alternative space and there’s no way they could possibly have competition. I immediately pounce when I hear it. In fact, I will start listing competitors for them to which they concede by saying, “Well, if you put it that way, yes, I guess we have competitors.” You mean when I put it the way in which they approach the same audience and deliver exactly the same services you do?
You can be unique, and you should. But unless you’re creating time travel you’re probably not creating something that’s completely new. Listen to your market and create something unique. Read “Tuned In” to learn how to do it.
