Having a problem helps if you want to start a business.
Your problem can allow you to understand the gaps in a category without a lot of fancy market research. You have insights that are first-hand and clear. Yeti brand coolers is a perfect example of this phenomena.
Yeti Cooler – Building the Cooler We Want To Use
Two brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders, love the great outdoors. But they were frustrated with coolers that would need to be replaced every year. Handles would break, latches would snap off and the lids would cave in.
They built the cooler they wanted and then built a business around that solution. And fortunately for the brothers Seiders, thousands of outdoorsman had the same problem that they experienced. Today, sales are in excess of $30 million dollars and achieved a spot on the INC 500 fastest growing companies a few years ago. The company was recently acquired by another firm. Their business provides a great marketing lesson in how to build into a business, a solution that meets a real need.
Breaking the Ice
The big marketing lesson here is that the business was founded to solve their own problem. The brothers weren’t satisfied with the options made by traditional companies like Rubbermaid. Few product managers at companies care enough to start their own business. These owners didn’t have a choice – they needed a solution to their outdoor lifestyle problem and nothing short of the perfect cooler would work. Through clever marketing and a clear focus, the Yeti brand is now the standard for true outdoorsman who shared the same frustration they experienced out in the wild.
Are you a product manager? If you are creating new products (or services) for your company, are you harnessing the passionate users in your category to help you understand what’s not working? Can you go out in the field – literally and watch, learn and observe like an anthropologist? You can’t solve problems like this behind a desk. You need first-hand experiences to understand how an existing product is failing to serve customers and their needs. Those lessons inform your decisions, designs, materials and even how you go to market.
Big data is wonderful but there is nothing like experiencing first hand, customer’s frustration with the products in the category you are entering.
Maybe it is time to put your ideas on ice, and stop making what you want to sell. Deep insights come from observing pain points in the field. Spend time with the people you want to serve so they can show you what isn’t working. When patterns emerge from multiple conversations, a path forward becomes clearer.
Shut your laptop and get out into the woods. If your sales aren’t growing, maybe you need to sell stuff that really solves problems. If outdoorsmen want to stand on their coolers, then it is time to build a stronger cooler that can withstand the weight.
Cool, huh.
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Photo credit: Yeti Home Page Screengrab. More info at www.yeti.com
