Assessing Customers Needs: External versus Internal Focus

The method for closing these market gaps is strategy.

You are likely to find very little overlap between your internal view and what the customer really thinks.   The table below shows the results of one such exercise for a sole-proprietor construction contractor segment. 

What are the biggest challenges or pains in the construction 

contracting business for a sole proprietor like you?

Identified by Distributor Executives                                 Listed by Contractor Themselves

High Material Cost                                                                 Winning Bids

Late deliveries                                                                         Finding and keeping good help

Competitors getting same pricing                                       Surviving the winter slowdown

Financing/cash flow                                                              Health care/Insurance costs

The column on the left reflects what you are selling.  the column on the right indicates what the customer is buying.  The technical term for the differences between the two is "market gaps."  The method for closing these market gaps is strategy.  The potential payoff from closing them is monumental.

ACTION POINT: What market gaps are you missing?