In the previous post, I discussed the importance of ensuring that there is a strong need for your idea and that, if possible, potential users should be involved to ensure the design meets their aspirations and requirements. There are too many stories of entrepreneurs investing significant amounts of time and money developing a solution without reference to the target market.
This invariably ends in tears as the resulting product usually fails to sell as a crucial aspect was omitted or misunderstood thus rendering the whole thing a waste of time. Ignoring your target market can be fatal as assumptions are never tested and principles such as ease of use are forgotten.
Bearing this in mind, I was keen to approach the market and test the validity of the concept and, more importantly, establish if this was something the market needed and, if so, how badly.
1. The approach
In order to validate the concept, I needed to talk to owners of stables, equestrian centres, liveries and riding schools and establish whether the paperwork required to manage their business was onerous enough to warrant a software solution. I was looking for the owners to lament at the sheer difficulty in maintaining the records and the amount of time it took to manage their ‘system’ whether in collecting all the information or keeping it up to date.
I was also interested in whether the smaller yards (<10 horses) would be interested in such software or whether the overhead wasn’t high enough to justify its use.
The approach was split between emails and phone calls. I wanted to use the email first to test the waters before stepping into the world of calling people out of the blue.
i. Email
For the email, I used the format suggested by Dane Maxwell in one of his interviews with either Pat Flynn and/or Andrew Warner. I asked a simple question around whether they were looking for software or whether they were happy with any software that they were using. I found email addresses via Contact forms or directories such as Yell, etc
I emailed 41 stables across the country (ie Liveries, Riding Schools, Equestrian Centres) and received a response from 9 yards (21% response rate). Those responses were then categorised as either:
- no interest (use pen and paper, or yard too small , etc) – 3 replies
- use software currently (tailored or microsoft) – 2 replies
- would like software – 4 replies (almost 10%)
The latter resulted in replies with people clearly experiencing difficulties in managing their business, with one reply offering to help with the software development. Calls are now scheduled to follow up these and establish both the difficulties and requirements.
ii. Phone
So I then picked up the phone and contacted 50+ stables across the country and used a script I’d put together to introduce myself and explain that I was exploring the need for software and would they be happy having a quick chat?
Assuming they were, I then asked a series of questions, initially on the size and type of their operation, how they manage their business, and whether they use software. The results were very interesting:
60% didn’t answer the phone (& very few had an answerphone)
Of the 40% who did answer the phone:
- 60% were not interested (too small, use their own system, etc)
- 20% were definitely interested
- 20% required following up
Of those who were interested, there was a definite demand to ease the pain of managing their business. The administration, and associated paperwork, of managing and maintaining records for lessons, liveries and ad hoc requirements is a huge overhead for some; one lady spends at least 2 full days a week managing the paperwork for her livery business.
Kariba Horse Stuff 