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There I said it, the one word (niche) that will make or break your business. It’s the rocket fuel, the catalyst, the ignition spark that will open the doors to accelerated business growth.
I’m writing this after reading another article about Dunacan Banantyne seen regularly these days on programmes like Dragons Dens broadcast on the BBC here in the UK. His story shows how a simple idea given the right conditions can become a company catapulted onto the sky rocket to success and the makings of a serial entrepreneur.
Unbelievably, he made his first fortune with ice creams vans….yes….you read it right, ice cream vans. So what could a seasonal, not particularly high margin business be doing to make it such an explosive business? Simple, he had a captured market and listened to what his customers wanted.
During the summer he was selling ice cream to sun worshippers on the beaches of Jersey, a lovely affluent island just off the coast off England. Jersey is a small island in itself and is both a holiday destination and residential area, so that’s the first niche if you like.
There was not a mass of competition and he also knew something of the business, being a bit of a beach bum. Secondly, he started selling value add products including cigarettes, soft drinks, confectionary and milk, and buying them at the right price, achieving margins of up to 80%.
Wow! This started because he realised that his customers wanted it, for convenience, just like your local mini Tesco mart. It was a simple model that worked, which he quickly scaled up, buying additional vans and adding drivers on commission. This gave him the freedom and the capital to branch out into other avenues including property, fitness and care homes. So lets go over a couple of important points.
- Research: as a beach bum he knew the market and understood the supply and demand situation that he was going into. As a beach bum he would have been relaxed, open and receptive to opportunity.
- Opportunity: he recognised the opportunity and as more opportunities came along such as his first bargain ice cream which he snatched up quickly and later adding value add products that were in great demand his business continued to grow.
- Sales and Marketing: with the right spot or pitch for his vans and his cheeky charm he won over customers and suppliers. He delivered the right product at the right price in the right place, and positioned it to the right people.
- Systemisation: once he had learned what worked (a system for success) he scaled it up, adding more vans, people, products and buying supplies at a better price in volume.
The key here, the foundation for this success if you like is finding the right opportunity or niche and exploiting it (within reason). So, how do you find your niche? It could be your hobby, a special skill your workforce has, your product, the way you do business, a seemingly simple problem you have fixed, comments you hear constantly that need a solution.
- Have a book where you write down these ideas or comments you here.
- Brainstorm your situation.
- Read magazine or articles in an area that interests you.
- Talk with other people.
- Ask your customers/suppliers what they think.
There are literally tons of ideas and methods. So, just be aware, open yourself up and expose yourself to situations where opportunities may arise. When you find it, niche your self to dominate a small market and grow from there.
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