Ideas are no one’s monopoly. At this juncture when the world is seeing a massive startup boom with so many business ideas turning into Unicorns. India feels proud of standing out with more than hundred such unicorn startups to its credit. Gone are the days when starting a business meant investing in rented office with other fixed expenses to incur, even before selling the business proposition in the market.
With the internet breaking all barriers of technology. One can now easily think of an exponential business growth sitting anywhere. This has its manifestation through various startups which have become mammoths just by offering basic services ranging from grocery to food delivery for the end customer. The only thing that they did was to solve a genuine problem.
There is no robotic science to it. Just a diligently analysed approach complemented with remarkable execution. So let us dive further into these small yet phenomenal steps to help our small businesses catch up with the rest.
Important points to be noted to convert small ideas into big opportunities
- Reading the Customer’s Mindset: The best way to analyse a business opportunity is to know your customer. This can be done through quiz and surveys used to find out choices and preferences of the potential customer universe. The easiest way to do this is through tools like Google Forms sent on various what’s app groups and shared personally. You may also try out email marketing or door to door surveys which are again less expensive. One must ensure that the questions asked should be precise and easy to understand for any person filling the survey. However, the sanctity of the collected data hugely relies on the quality of analysis carried out post collection.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Always ask the customer what they want. Instead of what we are here to offer.
- Know Your Target Audience: When starting to plan your business idea. Always analyse your target audience first. For Example: Selling latest movie tickets to the sixty years plus senior citizens will not be a good idea. Instead in this case, mapping your future plans keeping in mind the younger crowd will work. Always remember, knowing your target audience could well be your bullseye shot for the future. Analysing your target customer is very helpful in defining long term marketing strategies.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Ask relevant questions keeping in mind the likings and preferences of the potential customer universe
- Understand Your Competition: Getting into a highly competitive market could be a wrong decision. It is always a sane approach to analyse your competition first and then move. Understand your competitor’s business and revenue model deeply to take an extra edge. However, nothing could be better than being the first to launch the idea. But if not the first, just focus on that X- Factor that differentiates your idea from the rest. There are bound to be some areas left unanswered by the competition. With all said and done. On the brighter side of it is the proven fact that notwithstanding the competition, fantastic ideas which are unique and executed with perfection can become the real big thing of the future.
KEY TAKE AWAY: No one is perfect. Even your competitor has left some shades of grey that you can tap.
- Make Revenue Generation Easier: If seen hypothetically. In a country of 1.5 billion people, charging even rupee one once every month from 10% of the population has the potential for a huge revenue influx. Most of the startups now a days work on the commission model charging a good percentage from the vendor by giving them direct business through the customers. However, such percentage commission cuts can vary from business to business. Having said that, it is clear that earnings through the services provided could well be humongous at even the lowest price charged. The focus of any budding business plan should be at providing the fastest services at the lowest cost. The basic concept of selling more at the best lowest price to the customer has been the success mantra for many Indian Startups. Just do not think about the margins. Even the negligible margins work wonder with millions of transactions in hand.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Do not run for margins. Go for the number of transactions.
- Cut Down on Cost: The biggest challenge faced by budding startups is to keep a capping on the running costs and expenditures. At the initial stage of bootstrapping, one totally relies on the corpus collected through friends, relatives and personal savings. The wise approach is always to plan the expense budget in a way that more of it can be utilised for technology development, advertisement and publicity. The easiest way to reduce the cost is to cut down on your field expenses. This can be done through recruiting young college interns through various online platforms on stipend basis or hiring a field team on contract per call basis.This is way better against keeping experienced field employees on high salary at least for the starting. It is also a great idea to work remotely to cut down on huge fixed expenses such as office rent, electricity and maintenance. One must also be diligent in understanding the advertisement platforms required for the business. This can be done by doing a simple cost benefit analysis to find out the extent to which the business requires Digital Marketing, BTL Activities or Cross Marketing. Generally localised businesses thrive well on conventional basic BTL activities like Direct Mail Campaigns, Catalogue Distribution, Telemarketing Etc. The concept of cross marketing is also being extensively used now a days to gain maximum marketing advantage at lowest cost.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Not every business type requires all types of marketing platforms.
- Talk to Investors & Banks: It is always advised to keep on finding out relevant investors and banks. This can be a tedious process with a lot of upfront rejections as no one is willing to invest in a naïve business idea. But with consistent baby steps taken by you for your business growth. Good investors could be a phone call away. Just we watchful and keep on finding out the resources required to make your business scalable in the market.
KEY TAKE AWAY: There are many investors waiting for the right business ideas that they can invest on.
- Be Consistent and Keep Moving: When one has limited resources. There are bound to be inhibitions and insecurities in taking even the smallest decisions. But the only thing that drives a way out is to keep moving. It is all part of game. We must know that best implemented ideas are successful not because of the intensity of decisions. But they become fruitful through consistent implementation and follow-up.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Consistent small steps can make a huge difference
Opportunities are endless. People are looking for services and you can be the first to provide them. There is a huge market waiting to invest into ideas which can make a difference. All you need is a genuine good business model analysed deeply and implemented with perfection. Take your baby step today, which one never knows could change the lives of millions in the future.
KEEP MOVING!!!
We would love to hear from you. Share your inputs as to what constitutes a good business idea?
