How Employers Can Identify These Pushing Needs

Few things can foreshadow greater entrepreneurial success than identifying an urgent and underserved need in the marketplace—a need with high demand but little competition. In fact, other people in your niche may even ignore the issue completely. However, you may find yourself scratching your head at how to identify this pressing need in the first place.

The good news is that by following these basic guidelines, you can act quickly to take advantage of this opportunity and gain a strong foothold with your target audience.

Search for ‘work to be done’

One way to identify unserved needs is to use the “work to be done” theory put forward by Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School. In Christensen’s thinking, customers “hire” a product or service to do the work for them. The job can be anything from getting a filling snack to getting through the afternoon at work or cutting back on their weekend errands.

A blog post detailing this concept explains, “It can be tempting to immediately shift your focus to a product or service that can meet that need. However, JTBD is not about the product; which came later. On the other hand, when you feel comfortable applying theory to real-world situations, it’s important to focus on the work, not the product.”

As you become more observant of “jobs” that require customer assistance, it becomes easier to develop ideas that meet those needs. This requires employers to develop a willingness to ask questions about a variety of everyday situations. Introspection on the “work” you’re trying to complete on a day-to-day basis can reveal gaps where a new product or service can make things safer, faster, or easier.

Related: 7 Basic Human Needs That Are the Focus of a Successful Business

Identify groups not served by market leaders

Quite often, however, an unserved need is not the result of a lack of available products or services. Instead, it could be the result of a key market segment not being served by a leading business in a particular niche. These underserved groups may be overlooked by current market leaders based on factors such as geography, finance, or other structural issues. By researching the extent to which customer groups are underserved and how they can benefit from services they currently have no access to, entrepreneurs can identify and engage new profitable markets.

Take action immediately

After identifying unfulfilled “jobs” or underserved market groups, entrepreneurs need to move quickly to validate their ideas and start turning them into reality. Market research is key to understanding the full scope of whether a need really qualifies as a pressing issue that will be of interest to your target market. Interview customers to get a better understanding of whether they feel this is an actual need, and whether the product or service helps them in their daily routine. Broader data can help you understand what your target market is capable of reaching.

Research can also help you determine if your solution to an underserved need is really viable. Can you scale your product or service as demand increases? Are competitors in your niche already offering multiple variations of your solution? How do you differentiate your solution from similar competitors? Employers must carry out their due diligence to ensure that their proposed solutions are successful in meeting the “jobs” requiring customer assistance, and that they adequately meet the needs of underserved market groups. Focus groups and testing of your product or service can also help you fine-tune your offering before a major launch.

Perhaps the most important thing is getting the mindset to take action quickly. Entrepreneurs who wait put themselves at risk of competitors entering and winning the market with a similar idea. Getting to market first with your validated solution will help you achieve brand recognition and loyalty to ensure lasting success.

Related: The best time to act is now

Unserved needs can vary widely. This could be a service that other market leaders currently don’t offer. It could even be an entire demographic that other businesses are ignoring, or an expansion or improvement of a current product or service idea. By developing an inquisitive mindset and a willingness to adapt your own business offerings to better meet the needs of the underserved, you can become a true market leader and achieve significant growth in your niche.