Hi Dien,

I see the board here is hopping right along. Good Show!!

In your post you mentioned "unmet needs" that should be addressed when considering starting a business. Here are a few questions a potential customer or client may ask when considering your product or service:

How badly do I NEED this?

How badly do I WANT this?

Most of the time, when an individual is considering your wares, they ask: "What's in this for me?"

I used to be in the search engine positioning business, until I got out of it for personal reasons. The majority of my clients were more interested in that "status" thing of having a #1 position on AV, no matter how obscure the keyword or phrase... and they were willing to pay good money for it. Even though they *needed* the extra website traffic for their business, they were more than satisfied with the top spot whether it brought them traffic or not!!

I know I'm getting off on a tangent here, and pulling one statement out of your post (out of context) so forgive me if this appears to be a challenge. It's not.

I just thought It would be interesting to find out others experiences regarding customers wants vs their needs. Which is more profitable for the entrepreneur?

Did I coin this phrase? "Give them what they need, and sell them what they want." If not, I apologize to the originator.

Whenever I visit the grocery store, I scrimp and save on things that I need. I buy discount stuff, no-name brands, and buy in bulk, as do a large number of others. Why?? Because I WANT to save for that new 19" monitor, or I WANT those season tickets to the Edmonton Eskimo's football games.

I NEED the steak, but I'll buy the balogna instead and save up for what I want... the sizzle ;-)

Ok, I'll stop rambling now.

Respectfully,

Paul Short




My own little "Sizzler" [:o)