25A--What's Next

Existing Market. 
Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.
I plan to pick up additional goods through contracts with other producers and vendors.  I can store and deliver their goods at my facility and better satisfy my customers.
Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 
My customers once again surprised me.  One customer, in particular, asked if I could deliver a wider variety of goods and services, potentially delivering from Walmart and other chain stores for household goods and groceries.  Due to our rural layout, there are no other competitors in this market currently.  However, I'm concerned this is so different from my current operations that I would have a difficult time incorporating it.  Goods sold for human consumption are under much higher standards and greater scrutiny.
Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.
Based on the feedback I received, the existing plan will be underway shortly.  I intend to expand my product list to include cattle mineral, poultry supplements, and some odd end necessities. My customers were pleased with the decision because it will result in fewer trips to the store and less wasted time on their part. They can pre-order the supplies from me and I will deliver it to their barn or doorstep. These will still be relatively small orders.
I will continue to process and deliver animal feed.  My other goods will be made by other producers and then contracted or sold via wholesale pricing to me. I will then store and deliver them to my clientele.
New Market.
Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.
Large-scale farmers.
Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!
Invest in additional equipment and storage space to expand my potential market.
Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 
I think offering true bulk commodities for delivery and pickup is huge.  It could result in constant sales to better diversify my portfolio, resulting in greater stability.
Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on.
I decided to invest in a commodities barn and a semi-truck and trailer.  This will allow me to buy other agricultural commodities that farms regularly use to save them time and transportation costs.  The equipment farmers typically use to pick up these goods are often in very poor condition.  I pass similar rigs on the side of the road fairly often.
By offering this product at my facility, I am staying true to my original business model to focus on exceptional service and a convenient location.  Additionally, I am providing a valuable service to my new customers.  Many of the customers in this new market will have bigger operations than my existing customers and will, therefore, expand my market tremendously.  I'm anticipating delivering other goods, such as mineral, in bulk also

Comments

  1. JackieNovember 18, 2018 at 3:11 PM

    This was very interesting to see what people wanted from your existing market as well as your new market. I think it might be worth looking into to see if your products could be in a store since that would provide a lot of exposure and interest since some of your interviewed people were interested in that, but like you mentioned, it might not be the direction you want your company to go. Overall though nice work.

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  2. UnknownNovember 19, 2018 at 7:13 PM

    I believe that adding items to your product mix would be ideal! Specially since one of the benefits in your company is that they would be able to save themselves a trip to the store by purchasing your product. However, in that case they would still need to make that trip to the store since they need to purchase other things. If they still have to take a trip to the store then they are more likely to purchase what they are already familiar with since its not actually going to save them a trip to the store (since they have to go anyways). If you provide other items then that would serve as an incentive to truly buy from you since you would actually then save them the trip to the store.

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