Entrepreneur Profile – Scott Lascelles
Scott has over 22 years in consumer lending in various marketing, risk and analytic roles at companies such as American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and PNC. Most recently, Scott was working in the Fintech sector by making online lending easier for consumers. Throughout his career, Scott—usually on the buying end of Lead Generation Companies— consistently felt that Lead Generation Companies did not understand consumer lending or the problems he was trying to solve, resulting in misaligned goals. He founded PrimeRates to resolve this issue.
PrimeRates helps individuals prequalify with lender partners, ensuring that the rates individuals see are the rates they’re more likely to get. A prime rate generally refers to the rate that a bank charges their best customers, usually big companies with deep pockets, but Scott believes that everyone deserves their best rate, their own prime rate, and that’s what PrimeRates strives to offer.
PrimeRates will launch with lead generation for personal loans and credit card—markets they know and understand extremely well—with a Phase 2 focus on Auto, Student Loan, and Small Business Loans.
Scott gives advice to others wanting to start a business. He says, “leverage your network to develop your business plan, leverage resources like the EEC, and always ask for help, but make sure that you don’t compromise on your vision.” Scott says, “the EEC provides invaluable resources for small startups, they provide access to experienced business people, organizational workshops and simply advice as needed.”
Market Segmentation: Understanding Your Customers
Written by Dora Cheatham, Program Manager, Emerging Enterprise Center
“Any color-so long as it’s black.” Why Henry Ford’s famous quote is no longer relevant.
When we utter Ford’s words today, they are often said in jest. Ford lived in a time of limited competition and his goal was straightforward: minimize costs through mass production. And the consumer was more than happy with the deal. Today’s consumer is different: he wants choice, lots of it, and with the proliferation of brands and channels, it’s there for the taking. Whether you are a business or non-profit organization, selling a product or a service, by segmenting your market and customers into groups with similar needs and buying criteria, then adjusting your marketing mix to meet the needs of each group, you enhance
THE 5 CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE SEGMENTATION
- HOMOGENOUS—the needs within each segment should be homogeneous within the segment and different from the other segments.
- IDENTIFIABLE– the customers within the segment must be identifiable and specific.
- PROFITABLE—The more segments identified, the greater the opportunity to offer a targeted high value offer. However, the number of segments identified should be balanced against the cost to serve those segments.
- ACCESSIBLE—the customers in the segments should be readily accessible in order to be able to serve effectively.
- ACTIONABLE—the segmentation should be such that the company can act on the segmentation to implement appropriate programs for each segment.
Once segmented, the business can then determine its business and marketing strategy on the segments themselves—their size, growth and profitability—the competition and the capabilities of the business. Which segment(s) will you focus on? Which segment(s) offer the greatest growth/profitability/maximum barriers to entry? Will your marketing mix (product, price, distribution, marketing message, processes, people) be the same for each segment or will they differ? The chart below shows the various marketing strategy options for business development based on market segmentation.