Listen to the market
The ability to identify opportunities begins with understanding the marketplace. Etzler takes the market’s pulse by putting out as many feelers as he can.
The first one goes out to customers, both directly and through your team.
“You need to listen to your customers, which will tell you how you’re doing right now,” he says. “You need to listen to your salespeople … and that gives you a great pulse on what the market is doing and a little bit about what the market’s going to do.”
Look for information from them to fuel both your short-term tactical and long-term strategic approaches. Begin by asking them questions, then dig deeper into their responses.
“From the tactical perspective, how are we doing and what can we do better?” Etzler asks. “Where are (customers) spending their money today and how can we improve our share of that spend? Then you … assess how big that market is, how much of that’s addressable from our perspective, at what cost, and try to put a business case together to figure out how to expand in the short term.”
Sometimes, ideas will come directly out of customer feedback. As InterCall’s customers expand into China and India, for example, they request services there, pushing the company to expand geographically. They also bring ideas about improving services — and, of course, keeping costs low — which pushes the company to improve technologically.
Though the later validation is an extensive process, ideas often come from a simple question.
“We’re constantly asking our customers what they want, and then we try to assess how big that market’s going to be,” Etzler says.
To further feed his view of the marketplace, Etzler also looks at macro trends and forecasts. He reads multiple industry trade publications to learn analysts’ predictions. His involvement with the Economics Club and the Executives Club of Chicago puts him in contact with other leaders, supplementing his view of the broader business world.
“Strategically, when you think of where the market’s going, that gets broader and a little less specific,” Etzler says. “Of that broader market, what do we think is our best space to attack first and how big is that addressable market and what’s that going to cost us to do that?”
Both industry and general business peers can provide valuable perspectives into the marketplace. For example, Etzler attends the executive sessions of Salesforce.com, a public company of similar size, to learn about new technologies it’s pursuing.
When possible, take advantage of the information available on public companies in your field. At the very least, learning about your competitors’ core competencies can help you strategically leverage your own.
“We’re continuing to go, ‘How big is that going to be?’” Etzler says. “‘Which piece of that do we think we can we address? Which piece of that will Microsoft probably take? Which piece will Cisco take? How much will be left over?”
