The One That Got Away

There are only two questions you need to answer to determine if your business will be successful:

1. Do you solve a problem better than anyone else in the world?

2. Are there enough people willing to pay money to solve that problem for your business to meet its economic objectives?

If the answer to either question is ‘no’, you have to go back to the drawing board.

If the answer to both questions is ‘yes,’ then your only objective should be finding those customers, or, more importantly, enabling them to find you. That means you shouldn’t be concerned with people who don’t want to solve the problem(s) you solve in the way you have chosen to solve them. Instead, you should only concern yourself with those that do. Your goal should be to find what Spike Jones calls ‘kindred spirits.’

In the last couple of days, I’ve been forced to confront this issue in a couple of ways. Just last week, a friend and client of mine asked me about my website’s ranking on the search engines. I told him that I had no idea where it ranked, that it probably didn’t rank very high and that I didn’t really worry about that. He asked, curiously, why I wouldn’t do the things that would make my website a ‘high-traffic site.’ I told him that I spent a lot more time worrying about how to make the site more meaningful for the people who are visiting it, rather than worrying about those who aren’t.

Today, I got an e-mail from a potential client. He was, in essence, complaining about the way I go-to-market. His complaint was that if I practiced what I preach he would be “more comfortable” with me, but since he is not clear on precisely how I will help him, he is going to look elsewhere.

Now rest assured, I certainly understand that Imagine does not have a perfect go-to-market strategy. My list for improvements is a long one. Chris, my Director of Brand Development, understands more than anyone all the things I feel we need to improve. But what I love (and hate) about go-to-market is that it is never ‘done.’ It is always a work in progress.

That said, Imagine is growing well ahead of my expectations, and we are creating some fans of our work (two of whom shared their positive feelings about us with the prospect I mentioned). So, what should I do? Should I focus on ‘the one that got away,’ figure out how to change my approach so he will ‘understand’ and hopefully buy in the future? Or should I continue to work on making sure those people who are already kindred spirits find me?

My answer is the 2nd. What’s yours?