28A - Your exit Strategy

Exit Strategy:

When approaching optimal performance of my business I would like to stay the face of my business with a board of directors that are strategically selected to ensure the everlasting performance of my business. I would not want to pass my business along as a family business because that become to picky. The oldest is sometimes not a guaranteed replica of the owner and I would not want to select one of my children over another. I look at having 3 children to become a balance off my personal growth where I only had an older brother. I select this exit strategy because it is less messy and I want my children to go off and do their own thing and not directly follow in my footsteps. if they develop an innovative way to operate my business then I hope the board of directors can acknowledge that and if not I want them to expand and find their own true calling off my principles of life. I feel this exit strategy is based off different principles of others who have been successful. I do not want my children to thrive off my success and become stagnant in life. I want them to find their own way and become something great by themselves.

27A - Reading Reflection 3

Mindset: How you can fulfill your potential

When reading the book Mindset: How you can fulfill your potential. I realized a lot about the operation of an organization and some ways I can learn for myself to become the best possible asset for a company I can be.

The book takes on strong theme of doing what you are not supposed to be doing. I mean that if you are doing something for a business you should look at expanding your point of view and find new ways to be innovative and become an asset for the business rather than another employee doing and following instructions as they are told.

I feel this book really connected with our class because it explains about being unique to an organization. I feel that being an entrepreneur or being intrapreneurs both take the lessons of exploiting opportunities and helping that sole owned organization thrive or making your current employed organization better by the pure help of yourself.

If I were to develop a class based on this book I would look at explaining that you should not follow suit to a business and look to expand across their current horizon and become something that changes that organization.

My biggest aha moment of the book was when they spoke about recruiting talent. The talent they recruited was optimal to the organization but it lead to a group think environment which lead to a negative repercussion because the organization was not taking a innovative approach and stayed within close relation with how the business was operating.

26A - Celebrating Failure

At work I have been focusing on my outbound lead efficiency. I have been making calls from a pre-selected list to contact current clients and have a conversation that leads to an appointment for a new product or partnership. I make about 20 calls throughout the day because my branch is busier than other branches since we are close to a college area. I have been trying out different approaches to hook clients and bring them in for a face to face appointment so we can discuss products in further depth and have it lead to a stronger relationship. In my calls I was presenting myself and asking permission to continue the conversation and find different points to hit upon after reviewing their profile to find clues on what the client may benefit from. By doing this and practicing I have been able to be more effective over a 4 month period. I learned that just because it doesn’t work the first second third fourth or even to the twentieth attempt you will be successful soon. My approach has evolved and I have a better understanding of what time of day to call and how to continue the conversation to land that follow up appointment. Failing at the calls obviously is not life or death but it is awkward when you don’t know what you are doing or how to approach the situation. Everyone needs to start somewhere and until you do you will always be bad. I keep my head up and keep going.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

After goals have been met regarding growth of revenue and product exposure I want to push into providing new products that will imitate current products but because of our customer satisfaction and engagement they will purchase our products to satisfy their need. The products will be extremely similar and not show signs of cheaper production.

I was able to talk to three people that enjoyed the outdoors and have been exposed to a situation where they have a need for a product similar to mine. In the conversations I asked them if the product I am offering would be handy to them (non-diabetics) and if not what product could I develop that they would like. Each of them said it would be handy in some sort of medical kit for them but to develop a good cooler for the outdoors and of course that is basically yeti. I asked what other products should we look at developing and they mentioned different types of cups, back packs, and other outdoor travel gear that requires rugged and waterproof designs.

After my conversations I want my company to have the appeal of a nonprofit to a community but still have the full attention with complete transparency that a for profit company can have. I want to see my company hosting events for different organizations and promoting different research to help cure different medical conditions that every can experience. I want to see my company at the forefront of promoting medical research and advancement all by creating this environment of extremely hard work, truth and comfort.

I want to see this company develop and turn into something that becomes an organization that resembles the entrepreneurial drive of Elon Musk (same, but different - The Interview) without the social backlash.

New Market

The focus of the business was going to be a B2C driven force but when looking at developing a B2B force it can change the entire advantage of our business. We are looking at taping into a community created by the businesses vision and values.

When trying to sell to individual distributors instead of individual consumers that may become more difficult unless we brand our items with theirs and they purchase in bulk that can meet a similar revenue goal and along with the purchase of our product we provide them with customized marketing strategies to promote our product within their business.

I was able to interview 2 people and explained to them the original idea my business and how it would create its own niche market within individual consumers and explained the new idea of selling the products we develop to other companies to promote and sell as their own. After explaining the human capital the original business is expected to poses they concluded that the new business design would not be able to function effectively because I only lead with 1 product and my name and the community revolving around it was going to assist with any sales and growth.

The new market would not work because I am basically selling a name and incentive to my customers. This can only be achieved when interacting with individuals and not business entities. I could not promote the company the same because the face would be hidden and the same values could not be easily translated through the new distributors. What I found interesting along the way is that most companies employ the same survival tactics that my company will eventually utilize. We will eventually have to mimic products and slightly alter them to appear as ours and cause consumers to change to our product because of our name and keep current customers in a lifelong relationship because of the customer interaction and engagement we want to offer.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1 (RediTravel)

RediTravel's MediCapsule

When reviewing the product the company has to offer we need to look at the forces or changes in the environment the business lays in and how it can create opportunities. The company RediTravel is in a current market that has little innovation.

The market the product is going after are people located all over the united states but targets a diabetic or a person that needs to carry some sort of vial with them just in case. Or the product can be utilized in a medical kit giving another form of medication extra protection.

Potential customers do not have a product that offers the same level of protection for their medication. Competitors only offer another item that can preserve the medications. I feel customers are not extremely loyal to a current product.

The innovation the company has to offer is in its marketing and employee and customer engagement. My company is going to promote an environment of trust and simplicity. The product is going to be extremely easy to use. When purchasing my product you become part of a family and we strive to enrich the purchase of our product with other events giving new life experiences when you bring our product home. The product is simple canister that is well insulated and protected from physical damage. The product is designed to store insulin or other vials that require protection. My product will be sold for $50 initially and new products will be developed and designed to meet new customer needs.

The overall venture concept of the business is to provide comfort to its customers as well as a product. My customers will switch because of the experience they will have when interacting with the company. Customers will engage in events sponsored by the company and they will engage with 

employees at these events as well.

Current competitors are MediCool. Their weakness is their marketing strategy and networking capabilities. I look to take full advantage of the marketplace by offering an extra level of experience which includes events hosted by the company.

The customer experience is going to drive my product and keep the company relevant in the extremely fast changing environment. My company looks to engage through the sale of our product and what that does for the individual and also through ongoing customer outreach and product development past the original design.

The business would be organized with a CEO, CFO, a Marketing Director and four marketing specialists, a subcontracted and in house phone service and sales team depending on the need or reason for the call, a sales force consisting of 1 lead sales manager and 10 salesman within each of the 5 states we are currently present in and salesman will be paid on commission structured to promote a strong growth environment, we will also have an event director and 5 assistants, events will be run by mostly volunteer staff from within the communities they take place. This team will be the start to help maximize my business growth until we become nationwide and expand our product list to provide a diverse product line and increase the customer base to become the next thing trending on twitter a few months out of the year.   

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

I want my business to resemble the way I am as a person. A debt is never owed to a favor to exchange. I want my customer to know that my companies’ employees are paid a base salary that is within a percentage of my own salary or the highest paid individual among the business. Major companies exploit their workers paying them low salaries while the highest paid employee is reaping all of the benefits. I understand that leading a business you want to make money but I want a business that will branch off and stay relevant purely because of its vision and values.

Resources my business already has that give it the competitive edge is my human capital and social capital.

The employees will always be available for information or just simple customer service, and I mean that everything when dealing with my business will be treated as simple and easily fixed even if it is not a simple task. By having that attitude I want my customers to feel welcome and safe when interacting with my business because our product is meant to give them peace of mind.

The company’s social capital is also important because I know many doctors who own their practice and I can easily market through them and they can begin a chain of marketing to help promote my product.

My business also offers a product that is not offered anywhere else and is a specialized item for a certain group.

Strong Vision and Values shared among employees and customers.

Making sales with the company will be extremely transparent and flexible giving the business to business clients a friendly appeal.

The customer service will always be a person that you speak to. No long prompts to go through just call and wait for a person.

Simple and personal marketing for each store our product is in.

Inbound marketing techniques to connect our product to stories.

Customer and employee engagement: bringing customers and employees together for annual camps.

The financial capital of our business gives us the ability to offer different variations of our product at different costs.

The company is valuable because the product is not offered by any other companies. The product is rare because not many companies combine the idea of medical conditions to the outdoors. The product can be copied easily because of the simple design but the company’s aura will overcome the idea of transferring when a customer sees something similar and our price competitiveness will be a focus.

When reviewing the VRIN I think the non-substitutability is going to be our strength. I want it to be marketed everywhere. I want all diabetics to see my product and know we are there for when and that whatever they need we will develop it and provide for them.

22A Elevator Pitch 3

Good afternoon,

I’m glad you joined me for another look at Redi Travel.

For this meeting I would like you to feel the way my product can change you

this will be introducing what our product can potentially do for our customers.

I want you to take a moment and imagine forgetting something, like you forgot to close your front door, or lock your car door, or close your hamster cage… take that moment now and really try to feel those emotions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.

Now I want you to imagine having the ability to control that emotion and have closure that you closed the hamsters cage, locked your door, and closed the front door.

I once was controlled by my inhaler as an asthmatic

I remember that the feeling of not having my inhaler, that alone caused anxiety and triggered an asthma attack.

I want to give a level of security to diabetics where they never feel this anxiety and can travel without bad thoughts on the back of their mind.

Redi Travel’s canister will be targeting our outdoorsman or clients that simply want to do more and have a secure guaranteed level of safety.

Our product will feature next generation technology offering the best preservation and indestructability among competitors.  

Thank you.

Looking back on my feedback I did not get any. But as I am going through the videos I am treating each interaction like it’s my follow up appointments.

I changed this pitch to be like my final speech and if an investor does not bite from this than it is over.

21A: Reading Reflection 2

Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online

The general theme of my book was around the strategy of inbound sales. Inbound sales is creating a marketing campaign that creates a welcoming environment, something that makes you want to stay and see what else is on there. Add collaborative functionality to increase attraction and be diverse. Create a blog, create compelling content which makes users stay. The idea of inbound marketing is baiting a prospect client to your content through other content. Instead of blasting your product and ideas through traditional commercials where some people may not be searching for information you pull them in with the notion that they are searching for information, they are attracted to an article or link on your website and then they see your add with a sponge brain that soaks up your information and is astoundingly more effective than outbound marketing. Tactics for switching visitors to leads in the inbound marketing strategy lets them choose when to do something. We don’t force them to do something or take aggressive approaches like spam email to get their business. We create a friendly comfortable environment because it is recognized that not everyone is always in the buying stage they sometimes want to wait 6 months or a year before doing something or becoming comfortable. A tactic is to also create a compelling call to action. A call to action is basically the button that triggers that visitor to fill something out with their contact information. This creates a lead and a strategy behind creating a good call to action button needs to answer these questions for the clients:

-          Why should I click this button and give them my information?

-          What’s in it for me?

-          Is the value of the thing I am getting worthy giving up my email address for?

These are some ways to get visitors to click your call to action button which then transfers them from visitor to lead which can be potentially sold to.

The book went well with our current learning and it was geared towards a more internet/social media approach. It enhanced the idea of promoting to our potential customers and also helped me give me a perspective when luring my customers toward my product.

If I were to do a class around this book I would start of with making my class create a marketing structure for their based off what they already know about marketing. I would identify if their campaign was inbound or outbound style and then I would go into explaining the way inbound can create a more positive effect environment for generating leads and prospect customers.

I am currently in sales and my biggest aha moment was when I saw the stages of creating a customer. I never really saw it drawn out. The stages are, Prospect, leads, opportunity, customer. You find the prospect when they interact with you, you ask for a follow up that turns into a lead, that follow up generates the idea of opportunity and then the sale is made creating a customer. I just never really had it drawn out like that and it was a good exercise.

20A - Growing my social capital

Domain Expert: For getting in contact with an expert in my industry I called the customer service number for yeti because I feel their product is similar to mine and I wanted to contact someone that has more buyers than other products. I asked what are the most likely reasons someone returns a yeti cooler. I learned that because of the temperature retention storing in a hot area could cause warping, also that their return process could sometimes be difficult. I feel after speaking with them I want to focus on counter those to aspect with my business. I want my customer service to be extremely thorough but extremely friendly at the same time. I would also want to field test my product in multiple conditions before releasing the product so if we experience any off performance we can either warn our customers or try to fix the issue before release.

Market Expert: To find a market expert that I could easily contact I looked up an article that explained how Yeti marketed towards their customers and I feel that the writer could potentially be a good person to help write something for my business to give it a good 3^rd party review that empowers positivity for my company.(he has not gotten back to me)

Important Supplier: I looked into getting in contact with 2 sport stores around me. Academy Sports and Dicks Sporting goods. I feel these two suppliers offer their customers outdoor survival gear and I feel that if I were to maximize my product exposure I would want my customers to be able to purchase my product at a broad variety of stores. I would offer it at stores like CVS and I would want to expand into outdoor stores as well.

Reflection: I feel going through this gave me firsthand experience with actually reaching out for established contacts in organizations that I am not a part of. This excersise also gave me good ideas on what types of people I should network with and not to over network in specific field but to find multiple sources in different departments.

19A - Idea Napkin No.2

My first idea napkin post had 1 comment on and it and the person said that I did a good job evaluating myself. I stated that I felt I can understand the way people are feeling most of the time. I look at their face and try to relate and I feel I am accurate most of the time. Think about the last time someone asked you if you were ok or if you felt a certain way and you denied it but knowing you felt exactly how they assumed.

In my idea napkin I mentioned that my product was going to be able to offer my customers peace of mind and give them a more stress free relaxing life when wanting to enjoy the outdoors or extended trips away from home which could be their comfort zone.

My product was going to be geared towards parents that want to feel completely in control and have no fear that the insulin they have for their child may not function properly because of external weather conditions. The product could also be geared towards older people that could have developed diabetes late in their life and it can give them peace of mind like nothing ever changed.

My customers would care because it makes them feel good and it will be extremely consumer friendly and not extremely overpriced showing my company truly cares and we want everyone to have this.

My product is going to be different because it is going to be marketed for the outdoors and rugged conditions giving a new element to the care and treatment of diabetics.

I feel these five elements fit together well because I have a strong idea of my target market.

My feedback stated that I understood myself and could actually talk about myself.  When reflecting on that and previous assignment I am also starting to see that this product would mainly fit a need that I would have if I was diabetic. I have asthma and I can remember have asthma attacks from shear anxiety. I could imagine a diabetic that has need for insulin could also feel anxious about their medicine.