Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

I am an entrepreneur who likes to invest in small low risk businesses. Recently, I started a new business  venture for providing accommodation for women who live away from their family either to pursue  their education or their career. The place was designed to accommodate close to 30 people, giving  them a flexibility to either live individually or share a room with another person. But the main  challenge I would encounter here would be to deliver a homely atmosphere – a place where they feel  safe, secure and most importantly healthy food and hygienic living conditions. These variables actually  summarize the whole vision of my business. To deliver to the needs of my customers, it was important  for me to reflect on my assumptions and also improvise my approach by getting constructive feedback  from my customers. This would prove to be a crucial aspect to make it a successful business.

Selection

Since I stepped into this venture with minimum experience and exposure, I chose to put my instincts  and the whole idea to test by adopting the Learning Launch tool. I launched my business and marketed  it through social networks, newspaper ads and brochures.

Application

I kick started the learning launch by introducing the concept of “Try and Then Move in” to allow  customers to occupy the rooms at a discounted price for 1 week and then decide to move in if they  were satisfied with the amenities, services and the environment. The response was mixed. Slowly  some customers decided to give it a try. My key strategy to attract customers was to maintain good  interaction and rapport with them. When they first entered my place, I greeted them and offered  them a beverage and then gave a complete tour of the place, explained the services that we provide,  the complimentary amenities that are available for use like Internet, Entertainment facilities like  Television, ensured safety with a single point of entry and exit and a night security personnel, everyday  housekeeping to maintain hygiene and so on. Highlighting these key points created a good impact as  many customers were more concerned about the quality of service. But in addition to these, pricing  was the deciding factor for some of them. Since this was a trial phase and I wanted to introduce my  business in the market, I maintained a moderate price. The “Try and Then Move in” concept really  worked for some customers as they could enjoy the services at a discounted price and with zero  commitment.

During the second phase of learning launch, my main goal was to know my enrolled customers. This  was carried out by asking them to fill out an Application form with some basic personal details and  also encouraged them to write in their food preferences, lifestyle choices and so on. Though the  customers were from different cities and enjoyed their authentic cuisine, it was not a feasible option  to have a wide array of cuisines/dishes in the food menu. So to keep it simple for myself and still hold  on to the customers, I decided to offer them one traditional dish in each cuisine once a week. This  really helped me attain the challenge of providing a homely atmosphere with something new to expect  and try each day.

The third phase was to get feedback from the customers. This is equally important as the other phases.  Instead of doing it the traditional way by filling up a feedback form, I organized a weekly meeting and  encouraged them to provide inputs upfront. It was setup for 30 minutes and towards the end the  action items were discussed. The action items were categorized into “must-haves” and “nice-to-have”  and were taken up accordingly with further thoughts and discussions.

Insight

Since this was a one owner to many customers’ setup, the “one size fits all” strategy would not work.  Providing individual attention to the needs of the customers during the transition or the settling phase  would prove to be a key selling point. Some of the customers were new to the city and they really  were in need of a guardian figure to boost their confidence and comfortably adjust to the new  environment and lifestyle. Also realized the need to gradually transition into a more organised living  would help to maintain cordial relations among the customers and thus ensuring a happy and  enjoyable stay. These insights were a derivative of the learning launch phases and would help me align  the vision of my business more closely with the expectations of my customers. This gave way to a  carefully designed plan to implement these learnings gradually without any deviation from my main  challenge and still gain an edge over my competitors.

Approach

Learning Launch is the first design thinking tool I had adopted for my shot at this venture and the  outcome was pretty good. But if I could do things differently, then I would integrate the Visualization  tool in the first phase of Learning launch. This would be done by actually posting real photos of the  rooms and amenities in the brochures so that the potential customers can better visualize the  environment and map them against their expectations. This would have helped everyone make a  thoughtful decision faster. These insights would prove be very beneficial and lead to a flourishing  business with low risks.

