Role Play : One person becomes "customer" and then I asked 5-6 people randomly to "pitch" to this customer. He told the class who the customer is (eg : secretary of a housing society) and then "sell" to the customer by using his "value proposition" in less than 3-5 minutes. Since everyone has a business in GYB, this becomes very effective.
After a few such interactions I ask the class what they learned. Common learnings mentioned are : the customer was not defined clearly, the pitch described activity / product but not the benefit, it was not clear how is it different from what options they already have, the product itself was not good. The session lays beautiful groundwork for conceptual discussions on Value Proposition.
I take the value proposition from the class : a machine for making jewelery which costs only Rs 8 Lakhs as against a German machine for Rs 25 Lakhs and even then she has a difficulty in selling. Without telling them the positioning template (Insight, target customer, need, what is he doing now, our offer and how we are different) I use it in class and see how the VP can be improved. By now the class is getting excited how, without changing anything about the machine, we are getting better at connecting with the customers.
Then I introduce the positioning template in the class as a "calibration instrument" regarding how it is used for a successful consumer product (2 Minute Noodles) and an industrial product (Supply of injection molded parts).
I ask them to calibrate their own businesses and ask me questions if any. By now they know what is the positioning template and how to use it to improve the pitch.
Then I tell them that we have covered how to position an existing product but what about creating a product or modifying the product. Then I throw a challenge.. improve the steel sheet. The class gets confused because the company may not like to sell "best of everything" solution as it will be unprofitable : best quality at lowest price. People start taking arbitrary guesses till they realize you cannot "spec" a product without the visibility of the customer.
Then I introduce the concept of choosing a customer based on ( size, growth, competitiveness, margins, competency and access). Then we map his needs and create a "marketing mix". Then we map the existing competitors and develop our own position.
I finish off the workshop by giving Everwrite Pen case as a group assignment and hold discussions to tell them about aligning the company to the position.
