Challenge/Selection.  The design tool that I will describe is Visualization.  Recently, while

taking this Design Thinking course, I was interviewing for a new job with a successful startup

technology firm looking to disrupt the personal finance and life insurance industry.  My

challenge was that I was asked to design a product or product feature based on call center

data that I had been previously asked to review and analyze. I could only use words to

communicate my idea.  Without the ability to draw images or use pictures, I deployed guided

imagery for the reviewers to envision the possibilities of my product feature. I wanted to bring

its value proposition and processes to life and used descriptive words and actual example

sentences that call agents would use with prospective customers.

From the call center data, it was clear that a key opportunity for this company was to

increase the persistency of life insurance sales.  Within a month of confirmed sales, 60% of

their sales lapsed – in other words, customers who had committed to pay ongoing premiums

stopped paying premiums within a month.  I set the stage for my visualization to imagine the

“what-if“ of substantially increasing persistency rates that would in turn support three goals:

(1) increasing the value of new sales by agents; (2) ensuring the right products were sold to

the right customers; and (3) attracting life insurance carriers to join and keep their policies on

the startup company’s platform.

Application.  I wrote the following introducation paragraph for my visualization in my  submission:

My idea is to create the “Caveat Emptor, ROI Constructor“ product feature and  incorporate it in the agents’ sales call process as a visualization exercise for the  prospective customer.  Much like call centers use recorded surveys at the end of a  call for a customer to answer a few binary or rating questions to measure  satisfaction, the “Caveat Emptor, ROI Constructor” feature would be introduced to  the prospective customer by the agent at the time in the call when the customer is  strongly considering making the purchase.  The agent would introduce the feature as  a next step for the customer.  For example, the agent’s introduction might read: “At  this time, to help you in your decision-making process, we want to ensure you will be  satisfied both today and in the future about this purchase.  I will have you listen to a  very brief survey.  You will answer questions to help you visualize how you will feel  about this policy and your purchase decision.  After you are finished, we can discuss  and complete this call, and hopefully to your satisfaction.”

I went on to guide the reader through the steps I imagined the prospective customer would

be taken through as a part of this product feature idea.  And then I summarized how my

visualization leveraged the teachings of behavioral finance by getting prospective customers

to imagine their future selves.  I described how the tool would guide them to tap into their

future selves to make a purchase decision that is more thoughtful and addresses up front

that common feeling of regret many of us have after the dopamine wears off from the

moment of making a purchase.

Insight.  The visualization tool got me to use “right brain” thinking by identifying, organizing

and communicating clearly a product idea.  It helped diminish my natural tendency to focus

on “left brain” thinking about numbers, sales targets, penetration, etc.  Working within the

limitations that I could only use words to describe my idea, I tapped into concrete examples

of language that brought to life the actual transcript I might consider using in my product

idea.  For example, by walking the reader through my example questions to the prospective

customer, I got a much better feel for how to make my visualization effective.  As a part of

my visualization exercise for prospective customers to do, I imagined and then wrote:

Visualize paying the monthly premium amount of $xxx for yy years. Visualize how you  will make these ongoing payments to keep your policy active.  Is this premium amount  realistic for you to make every month?   Answer 1 for Y or 2 for N  •  Because you answered Y, would you consider a need to pay more per month in  order to provide more life insurance coverage for the recipients?  Answer 1 for Y or 2  for N;  OR

•  Because you answer N, you might consider a lower monthly payment amount for  less life insurance coverage and the agent on this call can help you.

Had I not done this, I would not have gotten the sense of real possibility that my idea could

have.  The other critical insight that I got is that the visualization tool in the design thinking

practice can not only benefit a company trying to focus on new product development, but

also can help customers to visualize and strengthen their relationship with a product, service

or company.

Because of how I performed on this assignment using what I learned from the visualization

tool of design thinking, I was offered the job.  I was also told that I had submitted the best

response the company had ever received for this exercise.  And I believe that tapping into

my “right brain” creativity to imagine and articulate a “what-if” scenario in a thoughtful fashion

brought my value as a possible new employee to life.

Approach.  One thing that I might do different with this visualization is to recognize that most

business audiences are going to be suspect of a tool that is almost exclusively “right brain”

oriented.  I think one of the key take-aways from the course is to take care not to overtly call

out design thinking and to integrate the concepts with other “left brain” metrics that business

people expect.  So, one thing that I would add to my visualization tool is to describe the

“desired-results-what-ifs.”  In other words, without making any specific commitments, I would

offer the metrics I would want to track following the release of my product feature idea.  By

focusing on the potential business outcomes that link to growth, profits, customer

engagement and employee retention, I know I would have a better chance of generating

excitement and buy-in from executives who are responsible for delivering on these types of

metrics.

