Expressing your business in one sentence is vital for launching and growing your business.

In person, on paper and in digital form, people need to quickly and easily understand what your product or service is and immediately see its value to them.

Step 1: The Opportunity Statement

Your opportunity statement defines VALUE.

Grab your notebook and write out answers to the following questions. Use as few words as possible and brainstorm different words and different perspectives, as we will be using those words to construct two short sentences.

Problem.

• Who has the problem?
• Location
• What are they trying to do?
• What’s stopping them?

Opportunity to Create Solution.

• What new process will solve their problem?
• What new product will solve their problem?

Problem Solved.

• Proof of niche market size:  Size  |  Source
• Working Title

How the sentence is composed:

[what’s stopping them] restricts the ability of [who has the problem] to [what are they trying to do].

As a result, there are [size] [who has the problem] in [location] who need [what new process] / [what new product] as that directly eliminates [what’s stopping them] and enables them to create [what they are trying to do].

This sentence can take hours or even weeks to put together! It is important NOT to embark on step two until you have completed your opportunity statement. Your opportunity statement is the base foundation from which everything else stems from.

The sentence structure is deliberately designed to ensure that when you compose your sentence, that if it does not make grammatical sense, then it’s a clue to you that you have not yet refined your opportunity.

When you have ‘nailed’ your opportunity and it’s a solid opportunity, the words will fit into the structure and voila! You are on to something!

Concept Development

Now the market problem has been defined, backed by evidence and an opportunity identified. Time to develop the solution!

How many ways can you get to the moon?

What about teleportation? Building a tower? Travel through consciousness? Non-fuel engines?

Your business concept is the concept you choose to get from earth to the moon, or from A to Z.

While you may have started out with a business idea or an existing business – right  now, it does not exist!

How many business concepts exist to capitalise on the same opportunity?

• Product Driven = One Solution
• Market Driven = Infinite Solutions

Write out as many different solutions as possible that could possibly solve the market problem you identified in your opportunity statement. In addition to helping you refine your business concept, it will also help you to identify potential competitors. Competitors are not businesses selling the same product or service as you – competitors are businesses who aim to solve the same problem as you. Very different!

Business Concept

Constructing your business concept in one sentence is a semantic equation comprising of a thinking verb to start, indicate your purpose focus and add a qualifier, to…

Switch problems to a positive focus.

Generate new ideas that help overcome sales objections, to give sales reps more confidence during client meetings.

Explore customer perceptions on sales service, to ensure we effectively target the next initiative.

Simplify sales support processes, to build client loyalty to the level where they become advocates for our business.

Other thinking verbs may include Generate, Simplify, Create, Explore, Expand, Gather, Determine, Design.

Creating Concepts

Choose a newspaper, magazine or news website and scan for potential opportunities.

Look for:

• Problems
• Who has the problem and what is the market size?
• Define a market problem and solution (opportunity statement)
• Validated with evidence
• Construct your business concept statement
• What is a potential deal structure you could approach them with?

What Business are you in?

McDonald’s is in the real estate business. American Express is in the short-term money market business. That’s how they make their money and how they build their value. Amway is in the product sourcing business. The business you are in may not be the industry your product and service offerings are in. It could be said facebook is in the patent acquisition business.