In a slight change from my normal routine of posting and to shake things up for our summertime readers I thought it would be fun to learn from the successes of one of the world’s most well known entrepreneurs - Virgin’s Richard Branson.

Over the next five days I will look at one of Branson’s success factors and share it with you. I have always said that the easiest way to do well is to model someone else’s strategies for success and if you are going to model somebody, why not look at the best?

Today we will look at how Richard Branson identifies an opportunity:

“We look for opportunities where we can offer something better, fresher, and more valuable, and we seize them. We often move into areas where the customer has traditionally received a poor deal, and where the competition is complacent.

And with our growing e-commerce activities, we also look to deliver ‘old’ products in new ways. We are pro-active and quick to act, often leaving bigger and more cumbersome organizations in our wake. When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis.

Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in the customer’s shoes to see what could make it better.”

This is a hallmark of Branson’s strategy for entering new markets - look for industries where the customer is either being taken advantage of or is receiving such poor service that they would welcome a change. One of the hardest jobs of a new business is to convince customers to switch from an existing supplier to their companies. Switching costs include time, money, and energy and customers typically do not want to move suppliers unless they have no other choice.

If customers in your industry are already happy with their existing supplier then you will be fighting an uphill battle to land new business. Focus on markets where the switching costs are low because your potential clients are so dissatisfied with their current providers that they would welcome a change.

Evan Carmichael

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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