Demand is always more than demand

I remember a few years ago received a training on quality, I was very impressed. The lecturer asked the question that looked very simple but not easy to answer: what is quality?

The closest expression was "quality is the degree to which the product meets the needs of the user".

In fact, this definition is only one word short of the standard definition given by the instructor, and the instructor gives the definition "quality is the degree to which the product conforms to the user's requirements".

But the so-called misses, striking, "needs" and "requirements" of these two words, if you carefully understand, you will find that there is a big difference. From the perspective of quality management, "demand" is relatively objective first, is real, and "requirements" relatively subjective, including a lot of emotions and other factors.

For example, when you're hungry, eating something to feed your stomach is your demand, and eat Sichuan cuisine to reward the spleen and stomach is your request; or, for example, in cold and wet weather, eating Sichuan food has become your demand, then in a decorated restaurant to eat a clean and delicious spicy Sichuan food is your request.

Therefore, from the level, the "requirements" level than "demand" higher level.

Of course, in the entrepreneurial process, customer demand is the first concern. When we talk about projects with entrepreneurs, we often ask this question: "How much do you need for your product?" Demand determines whether your career can be done, selling razors in your daughter's country is not good to sell.

But your career can be big, not only to see the needs, but also to see you meet user requirements. So even if you sell razors in men's stacks, there is demand, but you can't decide what to buy, it depends on what they want. Whether the razor is sharp, easy to use, and how long it takes is a question that customers will think before they buy it.

China has developed to such a stage, many industries are facing huge demand. We have contacted a large number of entrepreneurial projects, each time an analysis of the industry, an analysis of demand, will always see tens of billions of of the market size, the annual composite growth rate of more than 20%, but really big projects are rarely.

In the age of scarcity, people rarely have "requirements", which is a marketing-king era. Products do not seek to use, but to be used, appropriate to do a marketing promotion, play the role of informing. At the beginning of reform and opening up many people's wealth is by simply processing some products without technical content.

Now the times have changed, everywhere is the Red Sea, the homogeneity of products has been quite serious. In this case, marketing is unreliable because users already have too many choices. "Marketing for the King" has become a "product of the King." As an entrepreneur, your competitiveness is not how strong the marketing ability, not how high the technical level, but "how much users love your products." Let the customer hopelessly fall in love with your product, is the real winning way.

And this love, not only that you meet their needs, more importantly, you meet their requirements.

The pioneer of car-sharing model America's Zipcar company has a firsthand experience. This is a company that offers self-service car rental, the demand for car rental in the United States no doubt, but the vehicle after the launch, the effect is not as good as expected. The market "no response", the first year down, a total of only 75 members, the following member growth is very slow. There are a lot of promotional tools under the line, but the results are minimal.

Later, they launched an in-depth investigation, only to find that the original people want not only to be able to rent a car, more important is "convenient." Users want to be able to rent in a 5-minute walk, rather than a few blocks across, when they want to use the car. So Zipcar adjusted the strategy of vehicle launch, the original whole town to the area of dense cloth point, eventually detonated the Zipcar of the popular.

So satisfying your needs does not ensure that you are successful, that you are trying to meet your users ' requirements, that they are hopelessly in love with your product, and that we recommend what most entrepreneurs think about every day.