Reflection –Mind mapping

Challenge

I am in a team to help a small business to improve its revenue.  The business has been breakeven for a  few years.  Now, the owner decided to get an outside help to identify areas of improvement.  The goal is  to make the business more profitable.

Selection

The business consultant has background in designing thinking.  The consultant suggested using mind  mapping techniques to identify all the current revenue sources and then identify areas of improvement.

Application

The business consultant first interviewed the owner about the business-- its core business, its key  sources of revenues,  its capabilities, and existing resources.   The consultant created an initial mind map  based on her understanding of the business.  Then she gathered all the employees, and asked everyone  to add any ideas they have to the graph.

The business brings large revenue from one big event annually, but small stream of revenues from  serials small and unrelated events.  Basically, the business is doing whatever that makes money.  The  mapping first identified all the current activities that bring in revenue.  Once the map is up there, the  employees are challenged to identify adjacent activities around current business activities that can bring  in new revenue.

The business started as TV production studio.  It made money by promoting the customers’ image and  business through interviews.  The business went through big transitions in its customer base and media.   Many years ago, most of the customers were local small businesses—doctors and real estate agents--  and the content were aired on local TVs.  Nowadays, the customers are mainly startups or manufactures,  and the contents are shared through social media, such as YouTube and Facebook.   In the mind  mapping session, people realized that the TV studio space was not fully utilized.  On some days, only one  show is recorded, and the rest of the time the studio is idle.  So renting out the studio as a meeting  space or seminar space was suggested.  Many similarly underutilized resources were identified in the  mind mapping session.

Insight

The mind map revealed that the team spent a large portion of time in activities that brought in little or  no revenue.   The company spent a lot of time and effort for the community that brings no revenue.

The mind map also revealed loss of opportunities.  When people came to attend the annual big event  from other countries, we only get ticket sales from them.  But most of them have other needs we can  cater to outside of the main event.  Catering to these needs will bring additional revenue stream.

A lot of innovation comes when two unrelated events are connected, sometimes unconsciously.  The  mind mapping exercise can force the connection of unrelated events consciously, and see if anything  new or interesting emerges from the new connection.

Approach

From the mind mappings, the owner decided to assign an owner to each of the new areas identified for  potential revenue growth and develop business strategies and objectives to support the growth.

