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Thank you for a fantastic answer - this is incredibly helpful! Because of the nature of this small market, it's unlikely my research would go unnoticed by eith

by nicheqs 11y ago

Thank you for a fantastic answer - this is incredibly helpful! Because of the nature of this small market, it's unlikely my research would go unnoticed by either competitors. Should I care? Is there advantage to asking customers what "better" means discreetly or can/should I do this publicly?

ddingus 11y ago
That is a hard call. A small niche magnifies this kind of thing. Do you think your target competitor is fat 'n happy? Will they move quickly? I prefer discrete to start myself. I prefer it just because it's unwise to set expectations and make commits without knowing what the potential outcomes of both of those are. Nice to have options when trying to figure out a strategy. Have you identified and to some degree segmented your prospective market yet? If not, do this. You can very likely get some good, broad stroke kind of information in a passive way. If nothing else, spend an evening evaluating say 50 of these prospects. From there, target who might pay for value, who is more likely aligned with your "A" guy, and who is aligned with the "B" guy, and what are the commonalities? Then, select a few of these and go have a chat with a few that you can reach in person without a big investment. Those conversations are very likely to tell you a lot, and they may not even appear on the radar, unless they go talking. Buy 'em coffee, or lunch, and express your interest and desire to understand how they do business and why the product has value for them. If it goes well, ask them to "blue sky" things for you. "If they were king..." So don't give 'em much to talk about. Ask and listen. Then go away and think on it. The most they can share is "some guy was asking me about X, and... their "blue sky" vision is something your competitors can find out too, and maybe that "A" one does this. What you don't want to share now is your strategy, or your intent to enter the market. They could deduce this, because you would not have that meeting otherwise, but they won't have anything material to act on, while you come away with a lot of information you will probably find valuable as you attempt to figure this out. If it were me, you know my inclinations now. Good luck!

by nicheqs 11y ago

ddingus 11y ago

That is a hard call. A small niche magnifies this kind of thing. Do you think your target competitor is fat 'n happy? Will they move quickly? I prefer discrete to start myself. I prefer it just because it's unwise to set expectations and make commits without knowing what the potential outcomes of both of those are. Nice to have options when trying to figure out a strategy. Have you identified and to some degree segmented your prospective market yet? If not, do this. You can very likely get some good, broad stroke kind of information in a passive way. If nothing else, spend an evening evaluating say 50 of these prospects. From there, target who might pay for value, who is more likely aligned with your "A" guy, and who is aligned with the "B" guy, and what are the commonalities? Then, select a few of these and go have a chat with a few that you can reach in person without a big investment. Those conversations are very likely to tell you a lot, and they may not even appear on the radar, unless they go talking. Buy 'em coffee, or lunch, and express your interest and desire to understand how they do business and why the product has value for them. If it goes well, ask them to "blue sky" things for you. "If they were king..." So don't give 'em much to talk about. Ask and listen. Then go away and think on it. The most they can share is "some guy was asking me about X, and... their "blue sky" vision is something your competitors can find out too, and maybe that "A" one does this. What you don't want to share now is your strategy, or your intent to enter the market. They could deduce this, because you would not have that meeting otherwise, but they won't have anything material to act on, while you come away with a lot of information you will probably find valuable as you attempt to figure this out. If it were me, you know my inclinations now. Good luck!