This quote from Seth Godin on customers and products can be deceptive.

“Don’t find customers for your products. Find products for your customers.”

I’m not a fan of Seth Godin in any way. I’ve read some of his books and they’re so full of platitudes and homilies they make me want to, well, not read any more of his books.
But he does hide some gems in the tonnes and tonnes of waffle.

This quotation is a massive over-simplification but Seth is basically saying think of the customer first, before your business. What does the customer want? Find out, then sell it to them. Don’t build what you think is great then try to sell it. The customer won’t share your passion.

This doesn’t mean a metal-basher in Dudley should suddenly get into online gambling because they’ve seen how addicted we’ve all got to it.

• It means the metal-basher should find out what bashed metal products are selling well.
• Do its existing customers want them bashed in a different way?
• Do they want a different sort of metal bashed?
• Is there a new industry that needs bashed metal parts?

It’s not all about the product either.

• Do they want to buy them in a different way?
• Do they want them delivered in a different way?

It all comes down to research.You’ve got to understand what customers want. And research isn’t scary. It’s just asking questions. If you get answers you don’t like, that’s not bad. It saves you a load of wasted time and money.