Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.
Whats next for me in my venture is eventually expanding to other schools, but i think there are things that could be implemented to expand the venture here at UF as well. That is making an agreement with different offices and businesses around the school to wash any uniforms they have at a bulk price. For example, if Shands Hospital is in need of people to clean their scrubs and such, I can make a deal with them.
Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next.
Interviewee 1: This interviewee stated that he agreed with my plan to look for businesses around uf. He stated that although Uf has a large population, there is always room for growth. I asked him about possibly expanding to businesses and he liked the idea a lot, he stated that business are good for my venture because they are a large group of people in the small area.
Interviewee 2: This interviewee didn't agree with my idea to expand my venture. He stated that any businesses that have required uniforms probably have someone handle their laundry, but gave me good ideas how to market the venture.
Interviewee 3: This interviewee gave me a different perspective on the situation. When I told her about my idea, she stated that I should market at these companies instead of looking to use them for their service.
Based on my feedback from the people I interviewed, I decided I would not try to use businesses for their services directly, but I would use them to market my product and try to expand my customers.
New Market
Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.
A new market that I would be looking to target is other schools across the us with large a large population of students. Targeting college students means that I am targeting a group of people with limited disposable income, so no matter what school it will be targeting low income people.
Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!
I think that my venture can create value for people all over using the same concept. If students at schools live in a type of confined area, i think it will be easy to transfer our ideas between places.
Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market?
The interviews that I conducted gave me great insight to how my venture would do at different schools. I talked to people at other students with connections but also struggle with this problem. They agreed that as long as alot of students are confined in a small area the concept would be effective. They brought up that I should really seek out everything in the areas that I am looking to invade to make sure my venture is worth it.
After identifying both the present market and the new market, i realized that my venture would be a good idea to expand. In terms of the present market, my idea was changed a little because I would not be directly invading businesses.
Hi Brian,
ReplyDeleteI was trying to brainstorm what I would want next for your company before I clicked on your post but you hit it right on the nail.. I think it would be great if you had a college laundry service and also a company/professional laundry service where you help companies with uniform cleaning. I also like the idea of expanding to other colleges, you will gain a following if you still with that market consistently.
I really like the idea of a company using your services for uniforms they need cleaned. I think since companies prefer to outsource in order to save on cost I think your services will be very appealing to them. I always believed that your next step should be to target other schools. Your venture isn’t just able to solve a need in UF but rather any school across the United States. I believe that if there is anything that college students can agree on, it is the dislike and lack of time to do laundry.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteCreating a deal with Shands Hospital to clean uniforms (scrubs) is an interesting idea, however I believe they already have an existing operation within the hospital that does their laundry for them. Finding a new market for this service is a difficult task... I was flirting with the idea of targeting wealthier audiences who might not have the time to do their own laundry, but I believe most would hire house maids that would do their laundry and more...
I think that trying to penetrate into other schools and Universities will be the best option for attracting new markets