Hero,
So in this exercise, I am delving into a conversation about the "80/20" rule. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, the 80/20 rule is a rule in business stating that, of your target market, 20% will provide you with the vast majority of sales and will make up your most dedicated customer group. In a startup, funds are very limited so using market techniques that actually reach that 20% will save startups from wasting money they can't afford to waste. To illustrate this principle, I've interviewed a Gainesville entrepreneur by the name of Sheldon. He founded his company Cocovana to sell his product, the Coconut Twist. In the following interview, he and I talk about how he targets his 20%.
Also, here's his answers to a few questions I forgot to ask in the interview:
- What are their customers' unmet needs?
- super portable compared to machete and unmet needs are having a tool to safely open coconuts
- Where do they find their customers?
- in health food stores, buying fresh coconuts
- generally Asian and Latino markets
- What are their customer's demographics?
- Latin and Asian groups because coconuts are a part of their culture
- large cities to target Asian and Latino communities
- What kinds of media do their customers consume?
- everyone is on facebook
- not too sure, need to put more effort into figuring this out
Secondly, I went to grocery stores (Wards and a local Asian market) to talk to his 20%. Unfortunately, I didn't actually find anyone buying fresh coconuts... Everyone I explained Sheldon's product to were interested and said it was a neat idea but they didn't feel the need to buy coconuts... So here are 2 sad videos of me talking to myself at different grocery stores.
Reflection: From my interview, I conclude that Sheldon definitely knows his customers problems. The need for a safe, portable coconut opener is the unmet need his company is solving. A difference I encountered may be in where his customers are located. I was at grocery stores for a total of an hour and a half trying to talk to someone buying fresh coconuts, and I couldn't find anyone. If his customers are in grocery stores, I couldn't find them. Maybe his market is so niche that his customers, and I'm talking about the target market, not even the 20%, are more geographically spread out and he's going to need to find some way of reaching them beyond being in stores. I think he'll be able to figure it out though.
That's all folks! Here's a picture of some coconuts:
