The Only Model You Should Know For Addressing Your Market Pain Points

Posted on Apr 21 2014 - 8:47am by Editorial Staff

Marketing

“It is better to have an approximate answer to the right question than an exact answer to the wrong question.” — John Tukey, statistician

Have you ever wonder….

“How do I make sure that my business idea resonates with my target group?”

“Do I try to solve a real problem or I am trying to square the cycle?”

“I think I got it right but…?”

“What If I tweak my idea, would it result into a better product-market fit?”

If yes, I am confident that I have the answer to your worries/concerns.

As I reiterate often, as aspiring entrepreneurs the most decisive factor for creating a successful startup is to achieve having a product-market fit (or if you wish problem-solution fit).

But before doing that you need a solid foundation; Did you do your homework

In either case in our today post we’ll employ the by far most powerful model for honing the solution part of our product-market fit equation, by recognizing a new way to see the pain points of our market. This model will allow us to view the pain points from a 3-dimension angle and make the necessary adjustments to our potential solution in order to become more holistic.

Inconclusive solutions; Are you one of them?

All of us have a clear goal, create a startup that will offer great value to our potential customers and in exchange to get paid for that transaction. Is how every company in this planet operates.

Great value is another way to say a product-solution fit. Nonetheless many entrepreneurs (in our case aspiring entrepreneurs…not for too long I wish 🙂 often miss one critical point. What’s that?

They ignore the fact that the perceived value of any product/service is affected dramatically by certain factors. Perceived value as it is defined by Josh Kaufman is: “Itdetermines how much your customers will be willing to pay for what you’re offering.The higher the perceived value of your offering, the more you’ll be able to charge for it”.

Thereby our objective is no other than that;take into account those factors and offer great value which is translated to high perceived value (as it is valued from our target group segments; the end-user of our “products”).

There are 3 core factors that affect directly the attractiveness of our value (the value that we intend to create) and with our recommended model will not only figure out which are, but also how by utilizing that powerful model we can attain addressing our market pain points effectively.

The most powerful model for addressing your market pain points

The model that we speak about arise from the Blue Ocean Strategy concept. It is one of the 6 core principles that is employed for formulating Blue Ocean Strategy.

Nonetheless, it can be used in isolation as a separate model with some modifications for addressing holistically our market pain points. In the following paragraph I will explain what this model is about.

Basically the founders of the Blue Ocean Strategy recognized the following “Few products and services are used in a vacuum. In most cases, other products and services affect their value. But in most industries, rivals converge within the bounds of their industry’s product and service offerings”.

One of the examples that is given in their amazing book, is how the decision of some young parents go to the theatre is influenced by another variable which is to manage to find a babysitter for their young children.

I am sure you’ll ask; what this has to do with my startup?

The answer lies in the conclusion of this core principle; as the founders of Blue Ocean argue “Untapped value is often hidden in complementary products and services. The key is to define the total solution buyers seek when they choose a product or service. A simple way to do so is to think about what happens before, during, and after your product is used”.

And you will ask again, what do you suggest, to create a complementary product for addressing the before, during and after the product is used factor?

My answer is crystal clear….NO

So what?

It wouldn’t be better to figure out the total solution on your prospect behalf?

We have to manage to structure our solution as one-off solution. Namely to be developed with the goal in mind of addressing the before, during and after pain points of our target group at the same time.

But is it possible?

Of course is, as always I didn’t reinvent the wheel I am just keen observer… I saw that model in practice numerous times.

And in the end of the day is not something entirely non-intuitive. Any entrepreneur tries to create as much good value as he/her can. Nonetheless often this 3-dimensional way viewing market pain points is ignored and has as a result their products to not reflect that customer demand and lead to deliver inconclusive offers.

Thereby by no paying attention to this 3-dimension approach, you put your prospects into the position to figure out by themselves what else they need to buy so as to finally attain their goal of fully solving their problem.

And I am asking, it wouldn’t be better to figure out that holistic solution on their behalf?

As always talk is cheap let’s see practically how we can implement that amazing model.

How it works?

I will give a simple example how this concept can be applied and I look forward for your feedback if it makes sense to you.

Let’s take the example of some online high-end personal development courses.

Market pain points:

Before; But what if I don’t like the course. What if you don’t deliver on your promises (the value might not meet my expectations)

Solution: Satisfaction Guarantee. If for whatever reason you are not satisfied with our product you can return it and get full refund of your money

During: But where I will find the time to “work” on that course, given that my schedule is hectic (all day long I am working and the nights I have my family)

Solution: Convert their course in audio form so as to be listened easily while driving/commuting towards their job or while doing some trivial chores in their house.

After: You might give great advice but the difficult part is the implementation I am afraid that I can’t make it by myself.

Solution: The course is structured as a step-by-step process that can be followed very easily but if you still worry about that, we incorporate in our offer a 30 minutes free weekly coaching via phone where we’ll assess your progress and walk you through if needed.

Does it make sense?

The goal is clear, to structure/develop our potential offer in this way. By taking into account the 3-dimension nature of each market pain point will manage to address those objection (before-during-after market pain points (of our target group) in advance and make sure that we’ll offer them one-off (holistic) solution.

*******

That’s it “guys”. I tried to be as comprehensive as possible with this model because I know that it works, I personally adopted it for my startup and can make a huge difference on the objective of having a real product-market fit.

And one last thing while pursuing your dream never forget….

“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”

–Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

About the Author

Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.