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Designerhelp Business Start Up Advice Continued…………
The 5 “Magic” Questions
1) Who Will Your Customers Be??
Simple enough question, who will you actually be selling to?
If you intend to supply retailers, how will you achieve this?
Which retailers will you target and why?
If you intend to supply direct to the public, how will you achieve this?
Why have you adopted this strategy?
I know that most start up businesses are happy to sell to anyone who wants their products, but the funders know that you must target a realistic, achievable customer base, otherwise the cost of attracting customers will quickly eat into the limited funds that you have.
Research, Research, Research.
2) Why Will Your Target Customers Buy From You??
Another simple question, why will these customers buy your products rather than sticking with their existing suppliers?
The jargony business plans call this your “USP” or unique selling point that makes the customer buy from you rather than someone else.
So, what is unique about what you do?
Is it your product alone, or maybe it’s you, perhaps it’s price or your fit, your fabric selection and ornamentation may be streets ahead of everyone else?
Research, Research, Research.
3) How Will Your Customers Find Out About Your Business??
How will you attract the customers you need to make a profit?
The jargony plans refer to this as your “marketing & promotions strategy”.
You must detail exactly what advertising you will undertake if any, at what cost, across what time frame.
Why have you chosen this particular strategy?
Funders want to see marketing and promotion activity spread throughout the year rather than just one amount to cover the launch of the business.
Your strategy must cover various types of promotional activities; whatever strategy you decide on you WILL have to justify it in your plan.
Remember if you are planning on selling via the internet, please include the costs of informing your potential customers that you have a website, I don’t think customers just stumble onto websites so exactly how will they find out about yours?
Research, Research, Research.
4) Who Are Your Competitors??
Most of my start up clients that are design-led tell me they create style and looks that are unique to them therefore; they have no “competition.”
Well, that’s correct, no competition on your specific style but what about the customer’s money, aren’t you competing for that with everyone else?
So who are the competitors who already supply the customers that you want?
I recommend that once your competition research is complete, pick 3 companies to write about in your plan:
a) A large established household name that even the dullest Bank Manager would have heard of. You hopefully will not be competing with them but highlighting them should show how your business is more flexible and market aware that this ‘big fish.’
b) Competitors that have “made it” in the last couple of years, who may have started up just like you 5 or 6 years ago.
c) The recent success. A business that is very similar to yours, maybe one or two years ahead of your, are now making a name for themselves.
You need to be able to highlight the positives assets of your business against these differing types of competitors.
5) How Will You Be Better Than The Competition?
Can only find a successful strategy for beating the competition to the customers, if you know everything about each competitor. How they operate? What service do they offer? Do they have a weakness/what will you offer that will steal the customers away from this competition?
Thanks to Michael Goodmaker at www.designerhelp.co.uk
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