DESING THINKING

Marisol Duarte

Cuenca - Ecuador

Challenge: Make the students choose the Mercedes Benz to continue

their studies, using the Storytelling technique.

I am the Director of University Well-being at the Mercedes Benz, and I am

also in charge of the personnel who carry out the dissemination activities of the

academic offer of the University, as well as the admission activities,

scholarships, insurance.

I am a professor at the University in the chairs of Marketing and

Entrepreneurship in the Faculties of Business and Design, Architecture and Art.

The Storytelling technique (Yudith,  2020), provides a way to connect directly

with the client through the narration of stories that resemble the reality that

the community lives, our potential clients, according to the theory addressed

in the videos, the narration, allows the strategy to be accessible It is aimed at

three groups of people, the leaders who write it, the consultants who help them

write it, and the professors who create case studies. In this technique, it is

important to know that the client becomes part of the story because they are

involved within it, since the situations are common with them and of course

their wishes and expectations are also shown in accordance with their reality.

The most important thing is to know the public in a deep way using terms and

words that they understand and know, clearly making known the sequence of

situations and events that are important to them and for the company, reaching

a stage in which they reflect on jointly on what is happening and how to arrive

at feasible and practical solutions that consider, in addition to your tastes and

preferences, your feelings and opinions.

n the dissemination of the academic offer that I organize year after year I have

learned to use this technique by narrating the story of an aspirant and how she

arrived at the Mercedes Benz, what were my expectations being so young,

a good student and a daughter of two teachers whose income could not fully

cover their tuition, how was her arrival at this wonderful campus full of nature,

color, youth and kindness, how she was captivated by the wonderful people she

met there while consulting young people who Are you listening to the narration,

what is your expectation regarding your admission to university and what do

you expect? The narration includes the options for scholarships, financial aid,

student, cultural and sports activities, and concludes by saying that the girl in

the narration is me, it is a moment full of emotions.

A tour of the facilities is made either physically or virtually and more

testimonies are shown from other students, teachers, workers and former

students who speak of their life at the Mercedes Benz. The tool was very

effective since the connection that is generated with the client is really strong

and is maintained for a long time.

Within the information obtained, the most important aspects revealed by the

applicants is a Higher Institution is a family environment, with a complete

induction system, payment facilities, scholarships, exchange opportunities,

which provided us with an action plan to continue to adopt strategies for

attracting students, putting their specific needs and desires first.

This tool in the future should be complemented with the mind map technique,

in which the ideas of the participants are presented through a scheme that

allows taking systematized processes in terms of suggestions from potential

clients.

Open House UDA 2019

Sally Rodriguez M.  Desing Thinking,  Coursera, 2020

