Small business person, be different, sell to the bottom of the pyramid
If you are looking to start a new business or to add a product or service to your existing business stop and think about the largest potential target market, the bottom of the income pyramid.
If you can provide a better, safer, more informative product or service at a very affordable price, you can revolutionize the world and your business. There is nothing wrong with targeting the affluent and many businesses do very well in this target market. There is one issue, as the income pyramid comes to a point there are less and less high income prospects being chased by more and more vendors.
Every community has many people living in the bottom half of the income pyramid. If a product or service can be offered which will enhance their lives, make them feel more worthwhile, help them to climb up the income ladder, then you have a sure winner.
Those at the bottom of the income pyramid are normal people who will purchase first the necessities and then products and services that will help them live a better life. They may be neighbors, small business owners, police officers, clerks, and almost every other imaginable type of work. In fact, there may be some living on well fare who need an opportunity to escape and create a better life.
The high dollar earners who reside at the top end of the income pyramid will also learn about you and will see what you have to offer. They got to the top by carefully scrutinizing their purchases to get the “most bang for the buck” and the best product or service for the money.
Yes, a lot of thought has to be given to succeed in this target market; management systems, overhead, budgeting and marketing are critical areas. There is also an upside: as you establish a position of trust with your market and as they can afford more expensive products and services, they will want to continue purchasing from you.
The secret for success in this type of marketing has to do with the integrity of the business, the trust relationship that has to be established and then the high quality of goods and services to be provided. Many large corporations have started with this business model; some are still in existence because they remained true to their core values. Others have disappeared because they forgot their core values and failed to adapt them to the “constant of change”.
_________________________________________________________________________________-
Excellence demands competition, without a race there can be no champion, no records broken, no excellence – in education or in any other walk of life. Ronald Regan
Comments are closed