When looking at the strategic potential of customers, a great place to start is Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. While this was written with technology adoption in mind, there are many parallels that can be drawn with business development. The book is particularly useful if you are relatively new to the market or introducing a new product or service.
Geoffrey suggests that there are different stages of product adoption. Each stage has a transition point into the next. The hardest transition to cross is from Early Adopters to the Early Majority. In this case, smaller customers willing to take a risk on your services, to the more mainstream larger customer base. To “Cross the Chasm” between the two customer segments you need to form a beachhead inside the Early Majority.
You need to secure a key reference customer who is highly regarded in your chosen customer segment or industry. You then use this association to gain more credibility with the often risk averse customers of the Early Majority.
Moore uses the bowling pin analogy where you use your ball to strike one pin. This goes on to knock down the rest of the pins in quick succession. In our case this means using your business development effort to capture one key reference client first before targeting the next.
Identify Your Beach Head
Look at your completed customer matrix with a particular focus on your prospective customers. Which one of these has the strongest need for your company offering and the most industry influence? Is there a customer on your matrix whom others in the field follow?
This customer forms your beachhead into the early majority customer segment. An area of high growth and returns.
Let’s take the mining industry here in Australia as an example. Having one of the biggest players as your customer adds a huge level of credibility when talking to other mining companies. It is an opportunity to have your customers leave a conversation aware that your business is dealing with the industry leader. This provides a level of trust that your offering is valuable and that it may be worthwhile for them to engage you too.
It is likely that the key reference company will be a longer-term strategic target. To reach it, the planning and effort must be made now. If you don’t plan your beachhead assault now you will never have the kudos of a key reference client in your portfolio.
What’s Next?
Sit down with your prospective customer list and think about the long term objective of your organization and team. Which customers will add that extra level of credibility to your portfolio? Identify one or two and then start planning your assault.
How do you identify your reference customers? Have you successfully crossed the chasm? Let me know in the comments below or through the normal channels.