Selling umbrellas when it rains

Earlier in March, I visited Shanghai.

One evening, it was raining, cold, and getting late.

I stepped out of the train to see a man selling umbrellas by the exit.

Sell umbrellas at a train exit.

Where plenty of people who've just finished work are desperate to get home or dinner.

It doesn't quite matter anymore what your umbrellas look like, its brand or price.

A lot of them would take it.

Demand exceeds whatever polish you put on a product.

Most businesses do the opposite.

They build a product and try to find customers for it.

Here's what I do instead.

I helped a client sell data science courses. This was when the market was blowing up with demand.

But that also meant many competitors were coming into the space.

So we stopped selling to everybody.

And went after one razor-targeted niche: finance, and non-technical execs who didn't want to be replaced by tech.

The course wasn't "learn data science".

It was "Get a salary raise at work. Minimum RM6,000 as a data scientist."

We sold RM4599 per seat.

That business has evolved beyond offering data science courses today.

But the lesson remains.

Pick a bullseye target audience. One with an urgent, bleeding-neck problem. Market to them and no one else.