2: Learn

“Solving Unmet Customer Needs: Learn,” Starting and Growing My Business for Self-Reliance (2017)

“Solving Unmet Customer Needs: Learn”

Learn

Maximum Time: 70 Minutes

1. Why Do People Buy?

Discuss:

What did you learn from this video about why people buy?

2. Learning How to Meet and Identify Customers’ Needs

Read:

Successful business owners seek to understand and meet the unmet needs of customers. Understanding customer needs is an ongoing journey that requires significant effort, time, and persistence. Your customers’ needs will change over time, so you will continually need to adapt your business to meet them. This is true whether you are considering a new business opportunity or managing an existing business. This section will help you learn how to identify the variety of needs your customers might have.

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A woman and a man using a laptop computer

Activity (10 minutes)

Step 1: Individually review the following list of business categories. Select one category that interests you and that has customer needs that you could potentially meet. If none of the categories on this list matches your interests, come up with your own.

Accounting services	Food industry	Senior care services
Application development	Hairstyling	Social media services
Automobile services	Insurance	Sports lessons
Catering	Legal services	Translation services
Cleaning services	Moving services	Tutoring
Computer repair	Music lessons	Web design
Custom clothing	Personal fitness	Wedding services
Data analysis	Pet care	Yard care
Event planning	Photography	Other:

Step 2: Within the category you selected, write down three needs that people would pay money for. Then write down a business opportunity that would meet that need. For example, if you’re interested in wedding services, some business opportunities that might meet a need include those below.

Customer Need	Business Opportunity
Wedding invitations that look unique	Calligraphy for custom wedding invitations
Innovative wedding videos	Drones for wedding photography
Difficulty in sending out thank-you cards	A service that sends out genuine thank-you cards for the couple

Customer Need	Business Opportunity
1.
2.
3.

Step 3: Divide into pairs and share the list of business opportunities that you wrote down.

Read:

To have a viable business opportunity, you must meet a need or solve a problem that people are willing to pay for. To determine if people would be willing to pay for your service or product, you need to talk with them about it. By talking with potential customers, you can assess the demand for your service or product and see if it’s sufficient to sustain the sales you need for your business to succeed. Customer feedback can also help refine your business idea.

Begin testing your business idea with customers early—before you invest much time or money—to see if there is a market for it. Most business owners have to adjust and refine their ideas and the details behind their business many times before they find the right offering that has the potential to succeed.

If people don’t have a strong interest in your service or product and aren’t willing to pay for it, even after you refine it, start over with another idea. Don’t continue to invest in an idea that doesn’t have strong potential for success.

In addition to talking with potential customers to evaluate your business idea, you need to do other research. The Lord has counseled, “Study it out in your mind” (D&C 9:8). If people are willing to pay for your service or product, that’s a good start, but you need to keep testing and refining your idea. Study what your competitors are doing. Research information online and read industry publications. Talk to experts who know about the kind of business that you are considering. These efforts will help you understand the business environment and consider potential risks and opportunities. These efforts will also help you develop and refine your business idea based on facts, knowledge, and data.

3. Observing and Taking Advantage of Change

Read:

Change is all around us and is always happening. Many people fear change. However, successful business owners welcome change because it allows them to address unmet needs and solve problems. They are constantly observing and anticipating changes and trends. They act on these opportunities quickly.

Some changes that business owners care about include:

Demographic changes. These are shifts in populations based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, language, income, education, and other factors.
Regulatory or government-imposed changes. These result from laws, regulations, or orders from governments or other authoritative bodies.
Technology changes. These are innovations or inventions that improve efficiency or achieve other benefits.
Cultural changes. These are shifts in a group’s values, norms, and beliefs that affect behavior.

4. Finding My Passion and Drawing On My Experience

Read:

We have all been given gifts from our Father in Heaven (see D&C 46:11). Successful business owners often pursue businesses that align with their gifts, talents, passions, and interests. Their primary interest is typically not money; instead, it is solving a problem or meeting a need that they care greatly about. These business owners often spend their free time thinking about their business because they care deeply about making positive change. This sense of purpose provides commitment to quality and excellence with the business—and resilience and drive during tough times.

Successful business owners often have experience working in the industry of their business, working in a related industry, or consuming the services or products of the industry. This experience often provides business owners with knowledge of the competition, valuable relationships, and awareness of customers’ problems and unmet needs.

Activity (20 minutes)

Step 1: This activity will help you explore how your passions and skills might lead you to a good business opportunity. With that in mind, individually consider the following five questions and write your responses.

If I had a free day to do something that interested me, how would I spend that day?

Where can I make the greatest contribution with my talents in serving others in a meaningful way?

What are three skills I have that I could use to earn money?

What are three industries or fields where I have significant working experience or deep knowledge and interest?

What needs or problems exist in these fields that have not been solved?

Step 2: Divide into pairs. Share with your partner a need or problem that you would be passionate about and committed to solve. It may be a need or problem that you have experience with or significant insight into.

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Personal Business Planner icon

Step 3: Based on the conversation you’ve just had, fill in the lines under “Passions and skills I have” in your Personal Business Planner. Please write in pencil, since you may want to update this section in the future.

5. Does My Business Opportunity Have a Competitive Advantage?

Read:

All businesses have competitors, so your business needs to have a competitive advantage to earn a profit and keep customers. To have a competitive advantage, your business needs to be different or better than your competitors. A competitive advantage often provides a barrier to entry that makes it difficult for competitors to copy your service or product.

Discuss:

What did you learn from this video about how to discover the competitive advantages you might have?

Read:

The following owners built their businesses around three very different competitive advantages.

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Three examples of competitive advantage

Discuss:

What types of competitive advantages have you observed in local businesses?

Resources

Why Do People Buy?

Choose two group members to read the following script:

Danielle: I love dogs. And I love to bedazzle! So I thought, why not combine the two things I love into a career!

[Video shows Danielle in a “Doggy Bedazzled” booth holding a small dog with a confused expression. The dog is wearing a rhinestone-covered jacket and collar.]

Solomon: And how did that go?

Danielle: Let’s just say I was barking up the wrong tree.

Solomon: Sounds like you need to do a little market research.

Danielle: That sounds like something I have no idea how to do.

Solomon: Well, think of the people you are trying to sell to. They are your market. From there, it’s just a matter of asking them the right questions.

Danielle: You mean I should ask the dogs if they like being bedazzled?

Solomon: I mean you should ask the dog owners what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it. We all know that dog owners love their dogs, but what are some things that they don’t have time for, or what don’t they like that they are willing to pay someone else to do?

Danielle: Well, I know they hate to clean up after their dogs.

Solomon: That’s a start. Why don’t you go out and start asking some questions?

Danielle: OK, how about this question: “What does your dog enjoy?”

Solomon: Yes! Another good question might be, “What’s something you want to give your dog but don’t have time for?”

Danielle: OK, I think I get it.

Solomon: Everybody wants different things. The key to starting a business is finding something that a lot of people want and are willing to pay for. It’s simple customer research. Once you know what a lot of people want and are willing to pay for you can create a business that meets their needs.

[Later, after Danielle has started her business.]

Danielle: OK, so I asked a lot of questions, and I talked to a lot of dog owners. It turns out that dog owners want someone to love their dogs just as much as they do and to take are of them while they are gone. So that’s what I built my business around. Oh, and I still ask a lot of questions, like, “What can I do to make you and your dog even happier?”

Solomon: So the unmet need is?

Danielle: Doggy Day Care! Dog lovers want their dogs taken care of when they can’t be with them. So I take them for walks, clip their toenails, give them a good wash, teach them tricks . . . and I get paid to do it!

Unmet Needs

Choose two group members to read the following script:

Mark: For 22 years I’ve been working in communications—front office-type stuff. I took the job because I love baseball. I kept it because I didn’t really know what else to do. Most of the writing I do has nothing to do with the game. It’s business writing—there’s no passion in it for me at all.

Rich: So are you looking to make a change?

Mark: Yes, I’m thinking about it, but I’m not sure how to go about it. I love being in the stadium, and I love being around the players. I love reading and research. I love telling the stories.

Rich: OK, it sounds like those are some things you are passionate about.

Mark: Well, I’d really love to play baseball, but I’m way too old for that now!

Rich: OK, let’s take that off the list. So we have: Love being around the players. Love reading and research. Love telling stories.

Mark: Those are my top three.

Rich: In your top three skills, you mentioned storytelling.

Mark: Good stories. I like to research and write them. I’m a good writer, but I also love to tell stories to groups of friends.

Rich: Reading. Writing. Storytelling. Sounds like you’ve thought a lot about this.

Mark: More like I’ve spent a lot of time writing things down and throwing them away. I wrote down every idea and tossed out the bad ones.

Rich: And why were the bad ones, you know, bad?

Mark: Well, they seemed out of my zone. You know what I mean? I’ve been around baseball for 22 years. I know people will spend money on the game and lots of stuff around the game. I want to find something I care about and can still make enough money to support my family.

Rich: I think you’re on the right track. You know what your skills are and what you’re passionate about. If your customers are baseball fans like you, what do you think they want?

Mark: Well, that’s the question I keep asking myself. There’s go to be some kind of unmet need out there that these fans would want.

Rich: Now you’re going to tell me how many wads of paper that added up to.

Mark: Exactly! Even though I did narrow it down, I still had a lot of bad ideas.

Rich: So now that you have a list of unmet needs, what are they?

Mark: I think that the fans want a backstage pass. They want to see the behind-the-scenes stuff; they want to hear the stories they can only get by being there. At the end of the day, they want to be entertained. And they love that it’s a premium—like getting box seats behind home plate.

Rich: OK, now I think we’re on to something.

Mark: Yeah, but how do I make money at it? Do I create a podcast? Write a documentary? Build a baseball amusement park? Make an app?

Competitive Advantage

Choose three group members to read the following script:

Narrator: What is a competitive advantage? Most people would answer hard work, good customer service, or staying open late. That’s a start. But to truly have an advantage over a competitor is to have something they don’t have. It’s like building an obstacle course around your business that a competitor would have a really tough time getting through. Maybe you have a secret recipe; a unique piece of machinery; a network of distributors; or an original product, invention, or patent. Maybe your shop is in the perfect location. It might be as simple as having a loyal following of customers and a brand they can trust. Let’s go back to Mark and Rich to see if they can determine Mark’s competitive advantage.

Rich: So you’ve had a few more days to think about your business idea. You went through a lot of paper.

Mark: Oh, yeah.

Rich: Let’s review some of those ideas. A baseball theme park?

Mark: No way. That costs millions.

Rich: OK. Podcast, app, or documentary. Any of those feel achievable?

Mark: Achievable, yes. But I don’t think I could make any money off them.

Rich: So, are you stuck?

Mark: Well, I was. But then I went back to my list of skills and passions.

Rich: Good. Let’s look at them a little differently. Which of them is a competitive advantage?

Mark: I’m not sure I know what you mean.

Rich: Well, what do you have that nobody else has?

Mark: Well, I’ve worked in the stadium for 22 years. I know it inside and out. Every corner, every seat, every locker has a unique story—player superstitions, funny pranks—all the good stuff. And I have a good relationship with the staff and ownership, so I can continue to get good stories. I’ve written many of them down: old players, new players, batboys, Roger the infamous autograph hound . . .

Rich: Sounds like you have a passion for collection behind-the-scenes stories that everyone loves. And you’ve collected and documented more than anybody else in the organization.

Mark: Yeah, it’s all stuff that fans love but don’t have access to.

Rich: And you know how to tell a good story.

Mark: So those are all competitive advantages?

Rich: Sure. How much would fans pay to hear stories like the ones you’ve collected?

Mark: While taking a tour of the stadium? A lot! Nobody has the access that I have. Nobody can tell stories the way I do! I mean, you take a tour now and they tell you how far it is to center field, how many fans the stadium holds, and then they show you where the sportswriters sit. That’s boring. I could do so much more than that!

Rich: All right, then! I think you have a business idea you’re passionate about. You have all the right skills, you’ve found something fans want, and you definitely have a competitive advantage. In fact, you have a number of them: stadium access, contacts at the stadium, and 22 years of stories.