Page 118 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

The Pull of the Market 97

that her solution was superior to other alternatives and in
catching families at the right time, when frustration and
worry were great enough to merit The Ivey’s cost and a
change from the status quo.

In thinking about the need you are addressing, ask your-
self: Are you offering a “pain pill” or a “vitamin?” Pain pills
are products or services that solve an acute user problem and
alleviate anxiety, fear, or frustration. Plumbers, tow-trucks,
and hospital emergency rooms are in the pain resolution
business. Vitamins are products that customers view as nice
to have, rather than absolutely essential. Upgrading your
computer’s processing speed would function as a vitamin for
most users, whereas rescuing a crashed hard drive is a pain
pill.

The conventional wisdom among marketing professionals
is that vitamins are harder to sell than pain pills, but this is
not a hard and fast rule. Many successful products and ser-
vices appeal to higher-level motivations, for excitement,
pleasure, or self-improvement, for example. But the more
clearly you understand the nature of the value you are at-
tempting to provide, as seen and experienced by the customer,
the more effectively you can position and sell your solution.

2. Who is your core customer? Starbucks Coffee’s impressive
growth over the years has been driven, in part, by the com-
pany’s ability to segment and understand its customers. Star-
bucks knows that those customers it calls “Super Regulars”
comprise 4 percent of all visitors, while generating 20 per-
cent of total revenue. They know that “Coffee House Enthu-
siasts” are younger coffee drinkers, who are aligned with
Starbucks’s core values and bring the greatest future spend-
ing potential. When Starbucks planners are evaluating a new
idea or initiative, one basic litmus test is whether the change
will appeal to Super Regulars and Coffee House Enthusiasts.
If not, the discussion often moves on.13
As a startup, you can only aspire to Starbucks’s high level

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