Can you engineer being in the right place at the right time?
Clearly the answer is yes – if you know where the right place is, and what time you need to be there.
I’ve had the pleasure of working in markets that are growing (so much fun), and I’ve also spent some time in some shrinking markets. (not fun).
But before we jump in, let’s start off by defining what a market is…
Market – A place in which buyers and sellers can exchange goods and services (value).
Now we’re clear what a market is, how do spot a “good” market, or a “bad” market?
I’ll use my definition:
A good market is a market that has a growing number of buyers over time.
A bad market is a market has a declining number of buyers over time.
A market that is neither growing nor declining is exactly what you’d expect, it’s ok.
But why are we even interested in being in a good market anyway? What does this have to do with my whizz-bang solution that “everybody should buy”.
Well, first of all, it’s unlikely everybody should buy your product.
And secondly, what’s a whizz-bang.
Thirdly, and most importantly, if you’re in a declining market. You are fighting against outside forces that you have no control over.
And believe me, it’s a gruelling one.
You’ll struggle to grab market share, because as time continues, THERE IS NO MARKET SHARE TO GRAB.
As buyers leave a market, it means that there’s literally less people to sell to.
If your market is shrinking, people that are currently your customers are also disappearing. This is typically because it’s a problem that’s been solved elsewhere, or the market doesn’t deem this to be a big of a priority anymore.
If you ask me, there’s no honour in fighting a losing battle when it comes to growing a business. Because there’s no point fighting a losing battle when you can find one that you can win, allowing you to take your share of treasures and glory as you take your well-deserved market share.
When you are operating a business in a market that’s growing, the opposite is true.
It’s like your sailing a boat and the winds are picking up as you create value in your market.
As more people enter a market, you have more potential customers.
What’s great about that is that many of them won’t be aware of the sales process too (but I’ll make another post about that).
Hopefully it’s making sense why it helps to spot a market that’s growing, especially if you’re looking to make an impact fast.
When it comes to an “ok” market. You just need to make sure that you have your systems up to scratch. You’ve got to be one hell of an operator, especially if that market already has well-entrenched players that you have to compete with.
Markets grow and contract over time, some come out of nowhere and grow really fast! Just like fidget spinners.
Only to come crashing down after it’s discovered to be as fleeting as a 8-year-olds attention span. Just like fidget spinners.
Or how about the rise of Bitcoin investing?
At the time of writing this, ChatGPT and everything related to AI is seeing a massive surge in sales and interest. It’s top of mind all over business communities, and other communities.
Fidget spinners, bitcoin and AI are just a few examples. Here’s one from my personal experience marketing and selling in a market that was exploding…
Online Coaching During COVID-19
Coaching during the covid pandemic. Back in 2019 when COVID-19 came about. A lot of economic factors contributed to the growth of coaches, consultants and freelancers entering the digital world.
Here are a few factors to this increase:
- A lot of people unfortunately lost their job.
- A lot of service-businesses had no choice but to move their business entirely online (especially if they were dependent on in-person events)
- Many professionals found that they had more time on their hands now they didn’t have to travel abroad for their work, or even travel to the office.
All of these factors meant that there was a steep increase in the number of coaches, consultants and freelancers that were looking for sales and marketing systems that they were reluctant to be a part of previously.
That’s where we came in.
Being part of a fast growing business in a fast growing marketing is a lot of fun, here’s what we achieved in the space of 2 years:
- We gave thousands of pounds (dollars) to charities.
- Helped 100s of coaches, consultants and freelancers stay in business.
- Had the opportunity to hand-pick clients that we wanted to work with long term.
- Got the business to $50,000 per month with a team of 4 (most of us were working part-time)
Looking back on it, we could have done more with the opportunity that we had, and many companies did more, a lot more.
But much of that is a case of the experience I had myself during that time, and factors that I couldn’t control in the business.
Nevertheless, it’s still probably one of my greatest achievements in my life so far.
Not only that, but the learnings that I acquired during that time will serve me well for the remainder of my business and marketing life.
We should all be aware of it…
Always make sure when embarking on a project, do some research about the market, what is the current state of that market, is it crashing and burning. If so, consider another opportunity, this isn’t just for businesses and entrepreneurs. Even as employees it’s important to know this before getting involved.
Back when I worked in post-production many moons ago straight out of University they’d always say, “the money has dried up in this industry now”.
The money didn’t disappear, it just moved to online advertisers.
Key takeaways:
- Always be aware of trends (use Google trends to discover what’s hot)
- When making growth assumptions about your business or product development, always consider how outside factors will affect your market.
- Avoid shrinking markets at all costs.
- When in a stagnant market, ensure you have a great offer and you’ve nailed your systems. Otherwise, prepare to manage your expectations.
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