Look at the
Whole Picture
With Market Research
How long has it been since your last... market research? Does this question sound weird to you? For most owners of small and middle-size companies it does.
It is not surprising. Big companies have budgets dedicated to studying their customers, competition and trends. For smaller companies with so many day-to-day tasks and urgent issues, one can easily forget to look at the whole picture. And even when they do, many mistakes happen. Miscalculating TAM (Total Addressable Market) is a common mistake that can ruin your revenue projections:
- TAM is not the size of the problem! Let’s say you are selling bread. The customers are obviously hungry people. But if you say your TAM is all hungry people – that is wrong because the problem of being hungry can be solved with soup, potatoes or ice-cream. Your TAM is only people, who are hungry for bread.
- TAM is not the total market size! If you are selling baguettes, you cannot say that the total market of bread consumers is worth billion of dollars. You want to count only those who buy baguettes in the particular region where you sell and who are willing to pay the price you set.
- So, to calculate your Total Addressable Market, you need to multiply the number of your customers by your price. If you are selling in a town where 10,000 people buy baguettes and your price is $4, then your TAM = $40,000.
By knowing your Total Addressable Market, you can get a realistic perspective on your actual opportunities and see the whole picture.
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