Know Your Audience
A bunch of us from my Toastmasters club planned to go to a comedy club where Will Durst was scheduled early in his career. When we got there, Will Durst had been postponed but we settled in for an entertaining evening anyway. A couple of guys from New Jersey came on the stage. They knew what would work for an audience in Walnut Creek, California. They knew the suburbs. A series of jokes about housewives in fuzzy pink slippers and curlers at the supermarket fell flat. They kept going down that road, commenting on how dead the audience was. They completely misread the room because they thought they already knew what would work. They didn’t notice there was no one in a house dress and apron in the audience.
Not so fast. Is this a “pride goeth before the fall” kind of lesson? Years later, I was working with a startup founder who had a chance to join a university go to market competition. I had attended a number of these and observed the final recommendations on the projects they accepted. Most of the time, the teams of students completely changed the market the founders thought was right for them. I advised the founder I was working with to mention several markets he might focus on. His application was rejected. The students rejected it because he did not have a clear idea of his target market. What? I was wrong? Yes, I was.
The organizers provided an email for questions. I didn’t need that. I was an expert business consultant, and I was very familiar with this competition. I was wrong. Don’t misread your “room.” Take what you know about your customers and question it. Find out who is buying from your competition and figure out why they chose them instead of you. Do the fact checking to give yourself an advantage.
