Buyers 

Buyers encompass the totality of customers and noncustomers. Customers are existing industry customers; they are the ones the industry is fighting for. Often, companies focus on their existing customers and ignore noncustomers. Yet, to create new demand, companies need to look outside of their typical customer base. Instead of focusing on further segmenting customer differences, they need to build on powerful commonalities in what buyers value. This is because buyers are often willing to put their differences aside to gain a dramatic leap in new value. By changing a manager’s focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to noncustomers, they will be able to reach beyond existing demand and unlock a new mass of buyers that did not exist before.