If you run a small business you’re likely making decisions all the time. If it’s not what product to develop it’s where to publicize your business. Or perhaps you’re considering hiring a virtual assistant or looking for a joint venture partner. Either way, you’re business is forcing you to make choices all day long.
But to be successful, you’re ultimately not the decision maker. And if you want to be successful, you shouldn’t be.
I know what you’re thinking (other than this Dawud cat is crazy), “Then who makes the decisions if I don’t?”
Your market does, of course.
You can sit back everyday, all day and make decisions about where to steer your business. Sure you decide what emails to respond too, what phone calls to take, and where to put your marketing efforts. You decide to develop this product or refine that service or to build this relationship or that one.
But there’s one thing about your business that you can’t decide – who buys. You simply don’t get to decide who buys what your products or services. While you can choose who you try to market too, you can’t control who actually spends money on your offerings. Each and every individual in your market decides that for themselves.
So many business owners have this backward. They think that all they need to do is create some product, market it to the right people and they just buy. That can work. But it’s like shooting fish in a fast moving river; the audience rushes by as your marketing tries to catch their attention long enough to slow them down, giving you a better shot.
Wouldn’t it just be easier if you knew what the fish wanted and built your products and services around that? Then you could give them what they’re looking for. Do that and some can be into a still pond (think big barrel). In the still pond you let them slow down, relax and rest a bit – all while listening to what you have to offer them. Effectively, you’re now able to take your shots at the fish who are interested in being there.
Smart business owners understand this so they don’t waste their resources and time shooting at the fish rushing by in the river. Instead, they craft their offerings around what their audience actually wants. This changes marketing from yelling to the mass of people rushing by to having a conversation with a small niche who need what you have to offer.
The successful business owner knows that it’s the people who make up the marketplace that ultimately decide. The audience is the decision maker. The only decision you need to make is whether to listen to them or not.
Are you listening to your target audience? What are they telling you they need? And how can you fill that need?
(note: no fish were harmed or injured in any way during the writing of this post. The author (that’s me) does not specifically advocate shooting fish whether in a river, a pond a barrel or any other locale. And if you select to use a firearm for any purpose, please get proper training.)
(note: image from SubyRex on Flickr, 
some rights reserved)
Dawud, just discovered your blog and I am really enjoying it!
This is something that I notice frequently in websites, people make it people for clients to find information in the way that they’re looking for it or even make a purchase.
Dawud, but this is true in all walks of life! All of us think that we are the decision maker while by hindsight we will discover that something else was working all the time!
Whatever happened to your intentions of discussing philosophy?
That’s why we do survey. That’s the reason we blog.
The target market is the real genius when it comes to marketing. They know what they want.
No guessing, just give them what they want, how they want it.
I use LimeSurvey (an opensource survey script) to do survey. SurveyMoneky.com is a service many small businesses use.
I agree with the article. This is us how make the decision in our business but sometimes people, time or situation is the decision maker.
No matter what are the results come out, we have to put effort in it to get the best out of it.
Excellent post. One of the benefits of the SaaS business model is that the company can really be guided by the clients. Development of the software is continuous and new features are added or functionality changed based on the current clients’ feedback and requests. This keeps the clients loyal to the company and prospective clients like the assurance that they will be an active part of the development process. My company is finding that this business model helps us move along quickly with the changing needs of the market.
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“The audience is the decision maker. The only decision you need to make is whether to listen to them or not.”
And, of course, if you decide *not* to listen, you can always go back to working for someone else, someone who *does* listen to the market!
Ramana,
It is true of all walks of life. But that gets into a pretty deep and juicy conversation around spirituality, philosophy and thought. And in time, I’ll do that blog as well. Just on the back burner for the time being while I work on some rather large business developments.
Laura,
So true. How do you keep it about people in your business?
Hendry,
I use SurveyMonkey as well.
The interesting thing is how few small business realize they can ask their customers what they want instead of trying to guess. Why do you think that is?
Tamal,
How do you find out what your audience wants?
Stephanie,
Do you think we’re seeing a bit of a revolution of how much control the customer really has?
mohan,
I’ll leave your plug if you can answer me this…what has been the most effective way for your company to learn what your audience needs?
@Stephen,
Exactly! Don’t you think it’s funny that so few small business owners get this?
Thanks for the thought-provoking post and great discussion as always, Dawud.
I agree with the bigger message of the post, but I view the scenario a bit differently. I believe you ARE the ultimate decision maker. Here’s how…
No doubt, your customers’ desires, pain-points, emotions and circumstances determine your point of entry and the nature of the product or service that will best serve their needs.
But, you choose whether to research and understand those circumstances, you choose whether to serve those needs as fiercely as possible, you choose whether to be responsive to what the market wants, while still being true to yourself.
Smart business owners choose to serve the market as close as possible to the point of greatest need/pain. So, while you don’t necessarily control what the market wants or needs, you do choose how you discover and serve that need.
We are only victims of the market if we choose to allow ourselves to be such.
I agree.
Heres the most simple example to prove it: say the market decides (through mass media properganda) that eco / green is good, suddenly business all start ‘greening’ up their products, adding envionmental statements..etc
Great post. Actually many company bosses are usually posing themselves to be cleverer then even customers, trying to decide what is the best for them.
Good article tahnsk for sharing article.The decision aids will ultimately help decision makers in developing plans and contingencies that are robust (degrade gracefully), are easy to use, and have the greatest likelihood of success.
nice topics..
looking for audience trend market and become good listener is my focus.
Therefore still, it’s really hard to make them believed.
Jonathan,
Without a doubt, that’s true. I wrote the post from this perspective to illustrate the importance of doing the research in the first place.
As a business owner, I decide whether I will follow through with what I learn from my target audience. It’s all about implementation.
Peter,
True. We’ve seen this with the green movement, organic & non-GMO food, and even with social media. I also think it’s helpful to remember that companies like Gillette, Levi, and New Balance do the same thing.
Furniture,
Whole businesses are built around what the audience needs. But it’s only what they need, but what they know they need.
Ashkael,
Great point. Why do you think that is?
Food Grade,
Can you offer an example of decision aids?
Pencari,
It can be difficult to get them to listen. That’s why you want to test and continue to refine your marketing message.
This is a really valuable post. I have been reading your blog for a while now but thought I would stop by and comment. I am glad you wrote it as I think many decision makers need to read it.
I agree, Dawud. You and I are both in a position of helping those businesses we serve to understand this principle. Those business owners who “get it” are going to succeed because they’re continually of a mindset to find a need and fill it. Those who don’t will speak of marketing as a mystery, and in terms of “just having to do something” to pull people in the door. The latter group tend to throw a lot of time, energy and money into sporadic marketing efforts, when simply listening and adapting to their existing market would be far more profitable.
No matter what are the results come out, we have to put effort in it to get the best out of it.
That great idea.For many entrepreneurs, the first few years are spent working from home. Though a home office helps save money on leased space, it presents its own set of challenges. Home offices typically lack room for new employees, are difficult for clients to access, appear unprofessional and can add stress on a family.
Thanks for the thought-provoking post and great discussion as always, Dawud.
Thanks for the advice dawud, that’s give me a lot of inspiration
Stand,
Thanks. What can I do to get you involved in the conversation more?
Shari,
Those who don’t get it eventually will not have a business, don’t you think?
Barkod,
True. And don’t you feel that putting the ‘right’ effort will get you better results?
Hazardous,
I think that can be true. But what about how the home office can insulate you from your audience?
Hospitality,
My pleasure. What do you do to understand what your audience needs?
wow, very interesting way to look at business. it’s articles like these that make you think out the box about all aspects of life. good work man.
I agree, Dawud. You and I are both in a position of helping those businesses we serve to understand this principle.
Excellent post. One of the benefits of the SaaS business model is that the company can really be guided by the clients.
i agree to this article. because no matter how you try to target a market, it wont 100% work. but if you know what buyers are willing to pay for, thats a different story.
Well im impress on the way you see business are. Well thought and its inspiring. i agree with forex funnel there..its totally the out of the box way of thinking.
Aldohas,
So what is the first step you’re going to take to understand what your audience wants?
<strong.Forex,
True. It does expand beyond business and into life, if we choose to consider others.
Software,
And how can we better help those business?
Mazda,
True, so why would anyone have a business when they don’t find out what their audience wants?
membership,
Thanks. So how will you utilize this idea to better reach your audience?
One makes decisions based on what the market wants. However, being bold and making a decision against the market can reveal an undiscovered need, so it is not as cut and dry as just blindly following what the market wants, and even identifying their wants is hard enough.
Tommy,
No it’s not that cut and dry. Once you understand what the market needs you have to figure out how your unique business approach can reach the market. Further, you need to test how the market will respond to what you offer.
That’s in no way to say you shouldn’t innovate. Look at iPod and iPhone, for example. Hugely successful in already existing markets. But successful because of the innovation. Yet the iPod, for instance, exploded beyond Apple-fanatics because it solved a need that was identified by Apple.
So there’s no blind following. You can try that and you may be successful. But I’ve watched numerous businesses ultimately suffer because they don’t find, develop and market their own, unique talents.
Great ideas. I’m running small home busines sand haven’t had time to understand what market wants – or like you said, I have it Backwards.
Guess I have to do some research in order to improve my services. I will set this as my priority right away.
Earlier I learnt and taught others about how one should write Meta tags and the Title. This would almost fail that exam, but it’s worked many times for many people : )
Excellent post. One of the benefits of the SaaS business model is that the company can really be guided by the clients.
For this barkot
That great idea.For many entrepreneurs, the first few years are spent working from home. Though a home office helps save money on leased space, it presents its own set of challenges. Home offices typically lack room for new employees, are difficult for clients to access, appear unprofessional and can add stress on a family.
This is Great post with Good recommendations. I am also into running small business and dont know much about latest market trends. With your information, I will be able to improve my market tactics. I am sure client feedbacks help a lot to improve business as client is MOST important.
It’s very important to be flexible in business and marketing strategies, especially related to the internet, are never concrete. There are always new tools and services to consider and people are constantly moving from one giant site to the next.
No it’s not that cut and dry. Once you understand what the market needs you have to figure out how your unique business approach can reach the market. — I totally agree on this. You need to research and decide on what your product and service will be.
Aurora Mesner