Stop Trying to please everyone with your product

Trying to please everyone with your product? Stop.

The key to greatness lies in focusing on your ideal customer and outsmarting competitors. Ready to reshape your strategy?

In the modern, fast-paced business world, the allure of trying to be everything to everyone is perilously tempting. This is particularly true in product management, where the desire to cater to every conceivable consumer whim can easily lead to a scattergun approach. Ultimately, however, such a strategy can lead to mediocrity and disappointing business results. Why? Because in attempting to outflank all competitors across every front, you dilute your resources and become a jack-of-all-trades yet master of none.

This harsh reality serves as a reminder of the need for clear, precise focus. This begins with identifying who your perfect client is. Have a clear picture of who they are, what drives them, what their unfulfilled needs are. Don’t just scratch the surface, delve deeper, and seek to understand them on a profound level.

Once you have identified your consumers, turn your attention to your competitors. How can you not just match them, but outperform them in meeting these needs? What can you bring to the table that they can’t? What will be your unique differentiators? How will we become the new category king ?

Next, figure out your unique selling proposition, your Point of View (P.O.V). Make it something so enticing that your customers will instantly exclaim, “This is exactly what I need!” They have to understand in 30s what are your differentiators and the value they will get using your product.

But don’t rest on your laurels. Constantly validate and revalidate your assumptions. Do they hold up under scrutiny? Are you sure you’re moving in the right direction? Identify efficient testing methods to confirm these assumptions.

Strategizing is admittedly challenging. It demands compromise and a recognition that you can’t chase every opportunity. It requires you to clearly demarcate your no-go zones as much as defining your mission. Yet, this sharp clarity is the keystone of your long-term success.

So, don’t aim to seize each opportunity that comes your way. Instead, concentrate on clearly outlining your target market and your unique proposition. Validate your assumptions and test them thoroughly, and align your product, sales, and marketing teams with this vision. Some customers will be over the moon about what you offer, whereas others may not be, and that’s perfectly okay.

The reason for this is simple yet profound: the path to ultimate victory doesn’t lie in being the best at what a host of others do, but in being the best – and only – at what you do. How do you feel about this viewpoint?