Challenge and Selection.

I work for one of federal telecom operators. I’m the Head of Commercial Department in one of the

regional branches. Our main product is mobile telephony including voice, SMS and 4G mobile internets.

To make it more clear the company sells connection kits including SIM-cards with prepaid tariff plan.

Every day we face a great challenge to acquire new subscribers and retain the existing ones as the

competition environment is relentless. The basic channel of distribution is our own retail network. It

consists of mono-brand shops, where a customer can buy our product, connect/disconnect different

services, ask for advice, etc. To increase the customers’ traffic in some of our mono-brand shops

collaboration with the coffee shops was made. The idea was that customers of the coffee shop would

convert in new mobile network users. After couple of months the idea seemed to fail, as the traffic

increased, but the conversion decreased, it was not the result we expected, because that meant that new

customers buying coffee passed by products and services we offer.

So we were to start with question number one «What is?» to find out what the problem is. First we tried

to apply standard analytical approach, but didn’t get any distinct answer. So the alternative approach was

to apply one of the design thinking tools presented in the course. The tool we used was the tool of

Visualization. The idea was to imagine and design a kind of a simple customer journey map for two types

of customers: 1) those who comes only for the coffee and 2) those who comes only for mobile services

and then understand, how these groups of customers move physically inside the shop space. So when we

talk about imagination and visual thinking the tool of Visualization is the best choice. Concerning that

challenge it is the tool to identify pain points and find opportunities for improvements or solutions.

Application.,

The members of my team (retail managers, marketing specialist, and trainer) made consistently the next

steps:

1) Depicted on the flipchart the plan of every mono-brand shop including the coffee shop area;

2) Marked all important zones, such as reception, showcases, lounges, windows, entrances, exits, etc.

by blue color;

3) Marked all observable advertising materials by yellow color;

4) Marked the free spaces easy to come through (call them corridors) by green color;

5) Marked the spaces not easy to come through (call them obstacles) by red color;

6) Envisioned different ways different customers move around the shop considering “corridors» and

«obstacles” and marked them on the flipchart by black color arrows.

After conducting that simple exercise it became obvious that we couldn’t see earlier. The result was

exciting and the tool was applied effectively. It helped to look deep into the problem considering

customers experience.

Insight and Approach.

The insight we gained from applying the tool is that the new customers coming to the coffee shop have a

small opportunity to be involved in telecom operator mono-brand shop however both stores are in one

room. The layout of base elements of interior and advertising materials makes customers think that these

stores look like separate business not connected with each other. The coffee shop was supposed to be

built in the inner space, but in fact it became isolated. We were not able to notice that evident fact using

standard analytical approach. Another important thing is that Visualization was useful not only in

identifying the problem, but prompting some tactical solutions that we accomplished in short-time

period.

Next time facing similar challenge I try to apply design thinking approach first as it seems to be more

inspiring, productive and solution-oriented in conditions of uncertainty. It helps to look at the problem

from the different angle and explore the current reality more thoroughly. Starting out by developing a

better understanding of current reality is half the battle.

