Around 2015, I served as a judge at a university student startup competition. A team of third-year students presented a remarkably fresh startup idea and drew a lot of attention. Pet food made from 'bass,' an invasive fish species! First, using government subsidies, they would catch the bass, a prolific breeder that devours native fish and had become a nuisance. They would then turn the catch into pet food and sell this eco-friendly product, which carried a 'social legitimacy,' on the strength of a low price and good nutrition. That was the core concept. At a time when smartphone apps made up more than 70% of all startup ideas, it was a very fresh concept, and it caught the judges' eye. As a judge, I asked a question.
"Do the dogs like it?"
The presenting student looked a bit flustered. Then they went back to stressing the feed's nutritional analysis table and how glossy it makes a pet's coat. I smiled again and asked, "Yes, but do dogs like this food? Do they eat it well?" They answered, "We haven't tested that yet. We will develop a flavor pets will love." In the mid-2010s, pet startups in Korea and abroad raised a lot of investment and tried many things, but the results were poor. Most focused on business models and fundraising, while the pets who actually use the product or service often wouldn't eat it or didn't like it.
In 2017, I ran a marketing workshop with the sales reps of Nonghyup Feed. We worked together on how to build a value proposition. I asked, "Who are your customers?" They answered, "The farm owners who buy our feed." So I asked, "What kind of feed do those farm owners like best?" and everyone...
"It's cheap feed."
was the deadpan reply. The conversation that followed went like this:
✦ Instructor: OK! It's cheap feed, KRW 100 (≈ US$1) a bag, but no matter how much they eat, they don't gain weight. It all comes out as manure. Is that good feed?
• Trainee: No. If they don't gain weight, productivity drops, and if it all comes out as manure, cleanup and waste-handling costs go up.
✦ Instructor: Let me describe the feed farm owners would like in the most extreme terms. Say a single grain costs KRW 10,000, (≈ US$7) but fed to cattle and pigs, the animals put on weight faster than on 100 bags of the KRW 100 (≈ US$1) feed, with far less waste. The storage warehouse is smaller, and the labor and disposal costs for manure are much lower. How about this feed?
• Trainee: From the farm owner's perspective, that's the best feed.
✦ Instructor: It reminds me of the mutant super pig in Bong Joon-ho's 2017 film 'Okja.'
Trailer for the 2017 film 'Okja'
✦ Instructor: OK, so back to the feed. Who is the user of the feed?
• Trainee: Um... cows, chickens, and pigs?
✦ Instructor: Right. So what kind of feed would those animals want?
• Trainee: Tasty feed? Feed that fills them up?
✦ Instructor: Feed that boosts productivity is probably far from the feed the animals want, right? In fact, wouldn't high-productivity feed shorten their lives? Oh, and who else is a user?
• Trainee: Another user? Who would that be?
✦ Instructor: Wouldn't another user be the farm's 'employees'? What kind of feed would they want?
• Trainee: Feed that's easy to handle?
✦ Instructor: Right. Light, non-sticky, and easy to use, I suppose? From the feed manufacturer's view, low production costs, easy manufacturing, and high profit are ideal. For the distributor's owner, a product with a high distribution margin is best. For the distributor's sales rep, it is a product that makes it easy to give the farm owner a value proposition and to explain its advantages. For the farm owner, the decider among organizational B2B buyers, a good feed, as mentioned, has low upkeep costs and raises productivity and profit. For the animal, a user, it should taste good and feel filling, and for another user, the farm's staff, it should be easy to handle. And if it also has an added function that boosts the animals' immunity, that would be the icing on the cake, right? Is there anything we've missed?
Empathizing with each buying center of a B2B customer — their pain, needs, and desires — is very hard. It is hard for men to empathize with women, for the young to empathize with the old, for Koreans to empathize with foreigners, for humans to empathize with animals, for the production team to empathize with the purchasing team, and for employees to empathize with the boss. Interests differ, and so do wants. An organization or individual with strong empathy holds enormous power to lead marketing to success.
To do that, the organization has to be flexible, and so do the minds of its people, right?
To be continued