Sunday, February 28, 2016
The Twenty Percent Week #8
1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. The business owner that I found was Michael Thibodeau. Mike thought his 20 percent would have been retired vets and police officers. Mike owns a gun holster company that makes custom gun holster from scratch to order. Who is real 20 percent was the average population. Almost all of his sales are from people that just like to conceal carry for safety. After realizing who his 20 percent is now he knows how to reach out and make that continue and grow. He does this by marketing on the web such as facebook, instagram, twitter, and his official website. The customer's unmet need is having a great quality gun holster that is also comfortable and affordable. The type of media the customers consume is the facebook page Brothers In Arms. The name of Mike's company. He does not only post his product but current events that are relationable with what he has to offer and sell.
2) Next go and talk to 3 "target customers" -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described.
3) Reflect. To my understanding the Entrepreneur does adequately understand their customer's problem. He has worked countless hours doing research asking people for feedback and what their day to day problem is with their gun holsters before buying his product. There are a few differences because not every customer is going to be the same. One of the customers I asked was what about a gun holster is an issue for you. His response was that it gets to be too expensive for something that is a must have if you want to carry.
* the entrepreneur did not want to be recorded. Countless hours of me walking around and trying to find the target customers. Almost everyone I had asked either did not carry or did not have any guns for them to carry. I found one customer to interview. Her name is Ashley Dridi. She agreed upon being voice recorded but she did not want to be videotaped and her image to be shown because of her job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMhhoMFsB9A&feature=youtu.be
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Keith,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this assignment, I think it takes a lot of effort to finish assignments like these and have lots of respect for those who can pull through! As far as the interview it seems the gun shop owner doesn't have his 20 percent down to a Tee which is probably why you had a difficult time finding some yourself. Targeting the general public just is too large a segment to do efficiently.
Anyway great job,
Check out my blog here:
http://blovejoyblog.blogspot.com/
Keith,
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked about the entrepreneur that you chose is that he had a very specific target audience. It would have been interesting to include commentary on gun laws, since that is a hot topic in the news today. Perhaps next time that you do this assignment, ask the customers what party they associate with? That may narrow down your customer base even more.
Your entrepreneur did seem to know his customers.
I didn't do this particular assignment, but here is the link to my blog if you want to look at it:
http://nataliem775.blogspot.com/
Keith This assignment was challenging to get done. I applaud you for doing it, as I did not. I would imagine this type of business it would be hard to find target customers. The product is so specific. Great job. I did not do the assignment so no link. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteHey Keith,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It's pretty crazy how a business owner can think one thing about his customer's but after a little thought realize that his target audience should be the complete opposite. I can definitely see how it was tough to find customers to interview since the subject of the business is pretty sensitive and tough to spot out. Great job!
Hey Keith,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to just say first off, great job on this assignment. You did an excellent job at finding an entrepreneur. To me that is one of the most challenging parts of this assignment, finding an entrepreneur to interview in a short period of time. I did not end up doing this assignment but you can still check out my blog here: http://parkeruf.blogspot.com/
Hey Keith, good job actually doing the assignment, it shows a great deal of responsibility. You'd be surprised how many didn't (me lol). That being said, I like the way you approached and asked the questions. What really sounds iffy is how the gun shop owner wants to target "everyone". Sometimes it is better to focus on a specific target demographic instead of just reaching for as much as you can grasp. You should check out my blog!
ReplyDeletehttp://agarciaent3003.blogspot.com
Now I get why you have so many comments, your last name is "Adam", so you are near the first of the list of bloggers. I was assigned to comment on your post as I also completed the assignment.
ReplyDeleteThis product seems like a tough sell. Equally as tough to find a ones target customers. Seems as though you had a hard time finding his target customers to interview. Hopefully the one you did find will suffice.
Good luck with the rest of your semester,
-Dallin
Here is a link to my interview if you care to watch it. http://dallinj.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-twenty-percent.html
Hey Keith, I really enjoyed your post. So many people carry guns in today's world and the entrepreneur you interviewed probably deals with a lot of customers. You mentioned that you had trouble finding customers to interview so in order to solve that problem, I'd advise you to go to a gun store where there would be plenty of people who meet the customer description you were looking for. Feel free to check out my blog here: http://matthewent3003.blogspot.com/.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog post! I really enjoyed reading about your experiences with an entrepreneur and their customers! I think this specific entrepreneur is very in tune with their target audience and that shows through what their customers had to say. You very successfully completed this assignment. Your questions were very effective at determining whether or not the entrepreneur knew their target audience.
ReplyDeleteHey Keith!
ReplyDeleteGreat effort on this assignment! I found the nature of this assignment to be difficult, and that is why I opted not to do it. I was wondering, how did you stumble upon this Entrepreneur? I thought it was very interesting but slightly troubling that he did not know who his twenty percent was. I wonder how we could change this assignment to make it more helpful to the business owner. Although we obviously don't want to be offensive, I believe it is important to be constructive. For example, you realized that his twenty percent just happened to be regular people who carry guns and wish to conceal them. What would you think about going back and sharing your findings with the Entrepreneur? Would it be helpful or hurtful? Overall great post, I wish your entrepreneur would have allowed you to record him because I think it would be helpful, alas, we cannot control those kinds of things. Good luck on your entrepreneurial endeavors!
I did not complete this exercise, but here is my blog if you want to look:
http://mariakongosfirstblogever.blogspot.com/
Hey Keith,
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for being one of what appears to be like very few people who actually completed this assignment! You worked accordingly to the entrepreneur's mantra and didn't give up when an assignment looked a little more complex than most!
Awesome job and post!
Hello Keith,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Mike provided key insight into how he plans on keeping his 20%. By utilizing social media, I'm sure he will be able to retain his customers and even broaden his appeal to others who are unaware of his offerings. I think another key to success is always making sure that your product is affordable. Mike's products are affordable for his targeted consumers, so they will continue to be repeat business for him.
Heres the link to my blog: http://leadingthechange.blogspot.com/
Hey Keith!
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a really great job on this assignment! It's interesting that he thought his demographic would be retired vets and officers but that it turned out to be people that want to safely hide their gun. Although it was tough for you to find people to interview, I thought your interview went well. I did not do the assignment so I do not have a link to share. Good luck with the rest of the class!
Keith,
ReplyDeleteat first I was a bit skeptical about who he reported his 20 percent is but i guess you could be right. People who buys guns definitely have a limit as to how many guns they buy. If i pictured people who bought guns i would not expect them to own many. Regardless I think it's important that he is keeping up with social media platforms. Check out my post at : keivnramos910.blogspot.com
Tracking down the customers in this niche is something difficult (and most are likely secretive about it, so they wouldn't tell you they carried, even if they did). Good job on your persistence, and I think that can be your biggest takeaway from this assignment. Your entrepreneur that you interviewed seems like he knows his market and adequately targets them. It sounds like he is likely a veteran or police officer himself, and would already have the "inside scoop" on his niche without need too much guess work. I was unable to complete this assignment, but you can check out my blog at: http://ufentclassblog.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI think you received some really good information from asking this entrepreneur. His experience is interesting and shows that it definitely pays to have the correct demographic/ psychographic to gear your company towards. You cannot grow as an entrepreneur if you do not understand what type of customers are interested in what type of product. Here is a link to my blog: courtneydscott.blogspot.com
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ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed that you found an entrepreneur and had the courage to approach them and ask these questions. I was very surprised that the entrepreneur's supposed 20% is not his real 20%, I suppose conventional wisdom would lead a holster maker to think they make much of their money off retired cops and veterans, but if thats not what the data shows that would probably give him a good advantage since many people would assume the same demographic is the 20% without actually researching it. Great job on this, you should check out my blog http://imalsonotadoctor.blogspot.com/
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